Class of 1922
Hanson Duvall Puthuff
b. Waverly, Missouri, 1875
d. Corona del Mar, California, 1972
Morning at Montrose, c. 1922
Oil on canvas
28 x 36 inches
When Hanson Puthuff arrived in Los Angeles in 1903, he had been making a living as a commercial artist painting murals, posters, and billboards. By 1905, he was successfully exhibiting his landscapes. Puthuff, who strove to complete his paintings in the field in order to capture fleeting effects of atmosphere and light, was heralded as quintessentially embodying freedom in his art, following the Western code of the individual. In Morning at Montrose, he brilliantly captures the shimmering effect of Los Angeles sunlight on the chaparral country that lies just south of the San Gabriel Mountains. The painting shows few light and dark contrasts; rather, a bleaching out of the color and detail turns landscape features into solid masses and shapes.
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.
