Hanson Puthuff was a commercial artist from Missouri, working in Denver and then Los Angeles at the turn of the 20th Century. While producing signs and posters for advertising, he continued to paint on his own time. He eventually abandoned commercial work to pursue his interest in plein air painting and became one of the preeminent California painters working in the Impressionist style.
He was in demand as a muralist, including a set of dioramas for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, and also painted a series of views of the Grand Canyon for the Sante Fe Railroad.
He painted the rolling hills, mountains, plains and valleys of California with an open, broad-stroked style, combining vibrant colors and subtle atmospheric perspective. He remains one of the most popular and widely collected of the California plein air painters from the 20th Century.
There is an exhibit of his work at the Pasdena Museum of California Art from today, October 15, 2006 to January 7, 2007.
Link via Art Knowledge News
Hanson Puthuff on Williiam A. Karges Fine Art (many images)
Bio on Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County & mural backgrounds
Bio at Fleischer Museum
Bio & image on Art Daily
thanks for this…i’d never heard of this artist.interesting work
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Wonderful painter. There are so many talented plein-air painters it’s hard to keep track and recall unless you keep up-to-date on them. A few months ago I purchased two books about plein-air painters – Ross Dickinson, and someone I’d never heard of by the name of Mary Russell Ferrell Colton. Very inspiring reads and highly recommended for one’s book collection.
Ellis,
Thanks for the comments. I’ll take a look when I can.
June,
Thanks for the mention of Dickinson and Colton. I’m not familiar with them. I’ll try to check them out when I get a chance.
Visit our gallery at http://www.californiapaintigs.com to see over 30 paintings by Hanson Puthuff. Enjoy!
Steve, Thanks for letting us know.
Unfortunatlely, for reasons that elude me, the site which Steve mentions is arranged in a way that doesn’t let users bookmark or link directly to an artist’s page, but if you go to this page: http://www.californiapaintings.com/Artists.aspx you will see an alphabetical list from which you can choose Puthuff.
To see some work that was in the same museum: http://www.southwestart.com/document/952
Our gallery actively buys and sells paintings by Hanson Puthuff — please visit our website devoted to the art and history of California and American Impressionism at[http://www.LawrenceBeebe.com]
I thought you’d like this article on Ray Roberts since it seems to fit your taste of landscape.
http://www.southwestart.com/document/983