William Hoffman

William Hoffman was a self-taught painter born in 1924 in Montana, where he spent his early years working on cattle ranches across the state. After high school, he considered settling into ranch life near Choteau, but World War II intervened; he served in the United States Marine Corps, including time in the Pacific. Following the war, Hoffman attended three colleges, exploring various majors and minors but never taking a single art course. He remained completely self-taught throughout his life. In 1964, while working as a regional manager for ASCAP, a visit to a San Francisco art gallery during a convention sparked his interest in painting. He later recalled being stunned to discover that artists did not necessarily starve.