The Landscapes of Hanson Duvall Puthuff

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The Landscapes of Hanson Duvall Puthuff

August 03, 2010 12:40

Hanson Duvall Puthuff, Summer Evening, 24 x 30 inches.

Beverly Hills and Carmel, Calif.-based William A. Karges Fine Art has a collection of fine works by Southern California Impressionist Hanson Duvall Puthuff (1875-1972), a founder of the Laguna Beach Art Association whose coastal, desert and mountain scenes are prized for their fluid brushwork, strong compositions, and rich color palette.

After training at the University of Denver Art School, Missouri-born Puthuff moved to Southern California. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1903, and went to work as a billboard painter over the next several decades. Often situated in remote areas, the billboards were set against scenery that would inspire Puthuff to pull out his easel to sketch and paint.

During this period, Puthuff also worked as a theater scene artist, sometimes painting the advertising curtains used in the theaters. He painted backgrounds for the model train exhibits on display by the Santa Fe Railroad, and background scenery for the animal exhibits at the Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles. One of his most notable accomplishments was the creation of a series of three panoramic dioramas for the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, commissioned by the American Museum of History in New York.

A family man, Puthuff enjoyed two strong and fulfilling marriages that lasted over thirty years each. He was the father of five children, twins Lee and Duvall, and Robert, Paul and Matilda.

Around 1926, he began to concentrate full time on his easel paintings and the exhibition of his artworks at various venues. Many of his works were painted outdoors, en plein air, and display a feeling of spontaneity and vitality.

Hanson Puthuff died on May 12, 1972, in Corona del Mar, California, after a long and successful career. His paintings can be found in the collections of numerous prestigious institutions, including the Laguna Beach Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Pasadena Art Institute.

Read more about Puthuff on William A. Karges Fine Art's blog: http://kargesfineart.blogspot.com/