aRT hANSEN

Painter and printmaker Art Hansen, (1929 - 2017) was born on the Pacific Northwest island of Vashon, Washington. A lifelong Vashon resident, Hansen grew up surrounded by the lush flora and rural structures of its villages, leaving a deep impression on him and becoming the subject of much of his work.

After graduating from the University of Washington in 1952, he held his first solo exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his art, aged just 22. In 1953 he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the Munich Academy of Arts where he was introduced to intaglio printmaking.

Hansen and wife, Gerda, moved back to Vashon in the early 1960s and he continued to work and exhibit prolifically, establishing himself as a celebrated Pacific Northwest printmaker and painter. He credited the traditional Japanese printing arts and the work of Albrecht Durer as major influences on his work, and he was known for the meditative simplicity of his compositions.