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.

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/