Armin Hansen

Armin Carl Hansen (1886–1957) was an American prominent painter of the en plein air school, and a native of San Francisco, best known for his marine canvases.

[1] He was born Armin Carl Hansen in San Francisco, California, on October 23, 1886, and relocated 1891 with his family to the nearby island town of Alameda.

At the Mark Hopkins Institute he studied under several teachers, including the highly respected arts & crafts designer Frederick Meyer and the Tonalist painter Arthur Frank Mathews, from 1901 until his abrupt departure in the spring of 1905, when he was arrested for hazing fellow students.

Two unsuccessful attempts by the San Francisco District Attorney to prosecute Hansen for causing permanent and severe bodily injury to the young artist Albert DeRome created much negative publicity.

[2] These events combined with the April 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire persuaded Hansen to leave his Alameda home and study in Europe.

Wishing to see the world through marine eyes, he periodically served as a deck hand between 1908 and 1912 on a number of commercial vessels, one being a Norwegian steam trawler.

[4] Hansen arrived in San Francisco in the late fall of 1912 and during the following spring and summer he held very successful exhibitions of his European canvases at three of the most prestigious galleries: Helgesen's, Rabjohn & Morcom's, and Schussler Brothers.

In 1997, a film Time Captured in Paintings: The Monterey Legacy was produced honoring Hansen, along with E. Charlton Fortune, William Frederic Ritschel, Xavier Martinez and others.