HANSON PUTHUFF (1875-1972) THE CHIEF TO CALIFORNIA / CAJON PASS. Circa 1936.
41 1/2x28 1/4 inches, 108x71 3/4 cm.
Condition A- / B+: repaired tears at edges; repaired tear at top edge, into image.
Puthuff, born in Missouri, studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Denver Art School before settling in California. He made a career as a commercial artist - creating murals, billboards, theater advertisements and even museum dioramas for the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History. In 1926, he turned entirely toward fine art, exhibiting his signature landscape paintings in museums around the country and becoming involved in several art clubs and associations (http://collections.lacma.org/node/166744). Puthuff counted himself among the California Plein-Air Painters, mockingly coined "The Eucalyptus School," creating most of his mountain landscapes on location. Even though he had just decided to abandon commercial art, the Santa Fe Railroad commissioned him that same year to paint views of the Grand Canyon for advertising. The painting featured in this Santa Fe Railroad poster illustrates an Impressionistic and atmospheric view of a different landmark, the Cajon Pass - the mountains so monumental that the viewer may not even notice the Chief train chugging along in the middle ground. We have found only one other instance of this scarce poster at auction.