Anders Aldrin - Pierrot with Mandolin - Woodcut P2369

A very charming woodblock from the hand of the great Anders Aldrin. Image measures 9" x 13", framed 17 1/2" x 21 1/2".

A painter and print maker, Anders Aldrin became known for his color wood-blocks and his paintings of still lifes, landscapes, and portraits of "broad, quick strokes and intense hues".  He was born in Sternfors, Sweden and showed artistic talent as a child. He immigrated to the United States in 1911, escaping his family who disapproved of him choosing art as a career.

While serving in the army, he contracted tuberculosis and began painting at the VA hospital in Arizona.  When he was released in 1923, he went to Los Angeles and enrolled for four years at the Otis Art Institute. From there he won a full scholarship to the Santa Barbara School of Fine Arts where he learned the Japanese method of wood block making from Frank Morley Fletcher.  He also studied at the California School of Fine Arts.

Following this study, he spent nine years making color wood-blocks, but after 1937, he returned to painting and was active until his death in Los Angeles on February 24, 1970.


Source:
Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940