Posted by Larry
Armin C. Hansen was born October 23, 1886 in San Francisco, California. He first studied under his father H. W. Hansen, then at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art and later at the Akademie Stuttgart, Germany under Carlos Grethe.
Hansen lived in San Francisco until the great San Francisco earthquake and fire in May of 1906. He moved to and painted in Europe for six years then returned to San Francisco in 1912. He moved his studio and residence to to the Monterey Peninsula in 1916.
Sometimes painting with a darkened palette, Hansen painted his preferred subject matter, a theme he painted for about forty years -- fishermen at work, harbors, docks, wharves, beaches, and coves. Hansen held memberships at the Carmel Art Association, National Academy of Design, Salmagundi Club, San Francisco Art Association and Societe Royale des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. He was awarded First Prize at the International Exposition, Brussels, 1910, the Gold Medal at the San Francisco Art Association, 1919, First Hallgarten Prize at the National Academy of Design in 1920 and the Ranger Fund Purchase Prize at the National Academy of Design in 1924.
His paintings can be found at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, National Academy of Design, the Oakland Museum, San Francisco Museum of Art and the Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art. Armin C. Hansen died April 23, 1957 in Monterey, California.
The author of this biography is a collector and active buyer of paintings by Armin Hansen and other early California artists, he can be reached by email, Brentemail@aol.com (Larry)