Malvina Hoffman

Malvina Hoffman (June 15, 1885, sometimes given as 1887 – July 10, 1966), was an American sculptor and author, well known for her life-size bronze sculptures of people. She also worked in plaster and marble.

Stanley Field, director of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, commissioned Hoffman to create sculptures of people representing members of the diverse groups of cultures around the world that became a permanent exhibition at the museum entitled "Hall of the Races of Mankind", which was popular for both for its artistic and cultural values. It was featured at the Century of Progress International Exposition, the Chicago World's Fair of 1933 that celebrated the centennial of the city. The museum also published a Map of Mankind, featuring her sculptures in a border surrounding a map of the world that was distributed widely with an informative, large-format booklet that made Hoffman's sculptures very well known.