Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bella Vista resident paints history
BELLA VISTA — It was an artistic block of epic proportions. After showing his talent as a young man, Dan Hoffbauer pursued a career in real estate and did not paint for 35 years. Then he moved to Bella Vista.
He and his wife followed his sister, a pastel artist, to Northwest Arkansas in 2018. They were looking to get out of southern California, but Hoffbauer wasn’t ready to retire and he continued working in real estate.
“I was always a history nut,” he explained, although his college major was neither art nor history. In fact, he had no real art education although his mother was an artist. He has a degree in journalism. “I was interested in U.S. history, the Civil War in particular.”
Finding himself close to Pea Ridge Military Park in March 2020, he decided he wanted to see the famous battlefield during the season when the battle was fought. Being on the exact site on the anniversary of the battle inspired his first painting in 35 years, a small canvas depicting the battle of Pea Ridge.
“A week later covid hit,” Hoffbauer remembered. He was able to continue working but found himself with some extra free time so he converted his sun room in Bella Vista into an art studio.
He painted two more scenes based on the Battle of Pea Ridge and then he learned about the Prairie Grove Battlefield and had new subject matter to paint. His first Prairie Grove canvas has been displayed at that Visitors Center. He has also shown work at the Rogers monthly Art on the Bricks event, the Pea Ridge Military Park and Headquarters House in Fayetteville.
Next he’s talking to Troy Banzhaf at Pea Ridge about painting scenes to be used on two new historical markers that will be added to the driving tour of the battlefield.
Hoffbauer, a member of Bella Vista’s Civil War Round Table, said he always researches his subject matter. He’s gone so far as to look up the phase of the moon during the Battle of Pea Ridge by finding a Farmer’s Almanac from 1862. He usually visits the present day location of his specific scene to photograph the lay of the land.
He has a theory about his recent work, “Hurrah Boys.” The subject is a well known story about a well-dressed woman rallying the troops and riding her horse up and down the lines during the Battle of Fayetteville. No one is sure who the woman was, but Hoffbauer painted the scene and he believes the woman was the Union commander’s wife who accompanied him during the campaign in order to visit family in the area. The attack was a surprise, but the appearance of the woman may have helped the Union soldiers push back and defend their headquarters.
He posts his work on his Facebook page and other Civil War enthusiasts follow the page and offer criticisms. He accidentally stirred up a controversy about the battle flag of a certain cavalry battalion that fought in the Battle of Pea Ridge.
It takes about three months to complete a canvas. His experience in real estate taught him how to manage his time. Now he blocks out time to paint and treats those hours like any other appointment. But unlike some other appointments, he finds painting relaxing.
He’s looking forward to an upcoming reenactment of the Battle of Prairie Grove. The Pea Ridge site is run by the federal government, which doesn’t allow reenactments on the grounds they consider sacred.
Prairie Grove is managed by the state, and organizers expect close to 1,000 costumed reenactors to help celebrate the anniversary of that battle on Dec. 3 and 4. The battle took place on Dec. 7.
Although tempted, he’s decided he doesn’t want to be a reenactor because of the amount of time and money required for an authentic costume, but he’s happy to watch them at work and use those scenes to inspire more Civil War art.
So far, Hoffbauer has not sold any of his original work, but he scans each completed canvas and sells high-quality prints on his Facebook page (facebook.com/daniel.hoffbauer. 3) and through Etsy.com (https://etsy.me/3CAXbyO).
“I was always a history nut. I was interested in U.S. history, the Civil War in particular.” — Dan Hoffbauer, artist