Herman Wendelborg Hansen

Herman Wendelborg Hansen
(German/American, 1854-1924)

Cowboy Rider
watercolor on paper signed H.W. Hansen (lower right)
30 x 21 inches
Property from a Private Collection Fine Art signed H.W. Hansen (lower right)
Appears in overall good condition. No visible losses, damages or repairs. Framed behind glass, has not been removed for further inspection. Dimensions: 37 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches

One of many German-born artists who found the American West inexhaustible, Herman Hansen emigrated in 1877 and settled in San Francisco in 1882. A job illustrating railroad advertisements took him to the wilder West where he met and befriended Borein and Dixon. Hansen’s horses are wild and his scenes are full-bore, and he lamented the passing of the Old West, as only an artist could, saying, “Tucson is killed from my point of view. They have shut down all the gambling houses tight, and not a gun in sight. Why, the place hasn’t the pictorial value of a copper cent any longer.”

-James D. Balestrieri