Class of Summer 1939
Armin Carl Hansen
b. San Francisco, California, 1886
d. Monterey, California, 1957
Before the Wind, c. 1912
Oil on canvas
29 x 36 inches
After studying at San Francisco’s Mark Hopkins Institute of Art from 1903 to 1906, Armin Hansen went to Stuttgart for further study. From 1908 to 1912, he was based in Nieuwpoort, Belgium, where he signed on as a crew member of a trawler, taking his paints with him. Before the Wind, completed in Belgium, features a small fishing vessel with two fishermen fastening the sails before the onslaught of a storm. Hansen returned to the United States in 1912 to teach at the University of California, Berkeley, and one year later moved to Monterey. Fishing was a strong industry there, and it was an ideal place to live and paint fishermen and dramatic seas. Hansen’s lush, expressive paint application and subtle tonal shifts were a great match for the bold weather off the coast.
GIFTED: Collecting the Art of California at Gardena High School, 1919-1956 is organized by the GHS Art Collection, Inc, in association with the Gardena High School Student Body and curated by Susan M. Anderson.
