Savvy Collector » Trude Hanscom

About the Artist

(1890-1975) "Primarily a graphic artist, Trude Fandrich Hanscom was born December 6, 1890, in Oil City, Pennsylvania; grew up in Waterloo, New York, and practiced her art in California where she married Charles Hanscom The couple settled near Los Angeles about 1930. and lived in Arcadia from 1945 to 1967.

She used her etchings, aquatints and drypoints, to depict southern California and Southwestern landscapes, often with old buildings and figures. In addition to a series of works on Los Angeles' Chinatown, she drew portraits and Indian genre scenes during visits to Taos, New Mexico and Arizona, as well as landscapes of Utah and other Western states. A frequent visitor to Mexico, she sketched the children there as well. Specific works by Hanscom include Little Rio Grande; Mexican Vendor; Navajo Weaver; Road to Taos; Little Canyon, Utah; Cliff Dwelling; and Above Prescott.

Before she studied art at Syracuse University, in New York, she worked for years as a stenographer in Geneva, New York. In California, she studied art at Scripps College, Claremont; Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles; University of Southern California, Los Angeles; University of California, Los Angeles; and with Sam Hyde Harris. While working on her own art, Hanscom taught art to private students and in the schools of Alhambra, Glendale, and San Gabriel.

In 1965 she received an Honorary Life Membership in the Society of American Graphic Artists. Her work is in the collections of the National Academy of Design, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania; and California State Library, Sacramento.

Hanscom exhibited at the Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, California; Artist's Fiesta, Los Angeles; Oakland Art Gallery, California; Women Painters of the West, Los Angeles; Laguna Beach Art Association; Society of American Etchers, New York; Pasadena Art Institute; Los Angeles Museum; Royal Academy, London; California Art Club, Los Angeles; Print Makers of California, Los Angeles; Pasadena Museum of Art; and American Artists Professional League, New York." Source: Phil Kovinick and Marian Yoshiki Kovinick, An Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West

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Artwork by Trude Hanscom

About the Artist