Anders Aldrin: Ojai, 1962

Anders Aldrin: Ojai, 1962. Shows rock formations common in that area. Oil on canvas, no frame. 34 x 28.

Anders Aldrin, painter, printmaker, and sculptor, was born in Värmland, Sweden on August 29, 1889. He immigrated to the United States in 1911, settling in Minnesota, and later served in the United States Army during World War I. After the war, Aldrin became ill with tuberculosis and moved to Prescott, Arizona. By 1920 he had relocated in Southern California and began his studies at the Otis Art Institute where he received the Huntington Assistance Award and a full scholarship to the Santa Barbara School of Art.

While studying at the Santa Barbara School of Art, Aldrin learned the techniques of the Japanese color woodcut from Frank Morley Fletcher. In 1928, he studied for six months at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco before settling permanently in Los Angeles. That same year Aldrin made his first color woodcut and continued to experiment with the medium until 1937.  Many of Aldrin's woodcuts are listed in the G.S.A. survey of WPA artworks held in Non-Federal repositories. Aldrin also studied at the Los Angeles Art Students League.

Aldrin was a member of the California Art Club, California Water Color Society, and the Los Angeles Art Association. He exhibited both locally and nationally and solo exhibitions of his work were mounted at Scripps College, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Pasadena Museum, and the Santa Barbara Museum. His work won several awards and is represented in numerous collections, including the Chaffey Community Museum of Art, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Library of Congress, Boston Public Library, and Rutgers University.

Anders Aldrin died at the V.A. hospital in Sylmar, California on February 24, 1970.