Hanson Puthuff was born in Waverly, Missouri on August 21, 1875. Puthuff studied at the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to Colorado in 1889 to study at the University of Denver Art School. He arrived in Los Angeles in 1903 and for 23 years worked as a commercial artist painting billboards while painting landscapes in his leisure. In Southern California, he lived in Eagle Rock, La Crescenta, Corona Del Mar and La Canada. He was a co-founder of the California Art Club and the Laguna Beach Art Association. After 1926 he was able to abandon commercial art and devote full time to fine art and exhibitions. He won dozens of awards including Diploma from the Alaska-Yukon Exposition, 1892, and two Silver medals from the Panama-California Exposition, 1915. He is nationally famous for his lyric interpretations of the Southern California landscapes and deserts. Puthuff died in Corona Del Mar on May 12, 1972.

Biography courtesy of DeRu's Fine Arts, www.antiquesandfineart.com/derus