Wild Horse Race

While primarily known for his maritime scenes, Armin Hansen was the son of prominent Western painter Herman Hansen and began painting cowboy scenes himself in 1913 when a friend took him to see the Salinas rodeo. He continued to paint horse scenes into the 1930s. Describing a related work, Scott A. Shields writes, "'Fascinating in its abstractness,' the dynamic composition conveyed the impression of speed and captured the color and atmosphere of the sport. For some, it was like a dance between horses and riders with their forms blurred by whirling dust...For Hansen, the rodeo scenes and horse imagery harkened back to his father. 'There's only one way I can account for the horses,' he explained. 'My father, who was a painter before me, made quite a success with frontier subjects.'" (Armin Hansen: The Artful Voyage, exhibition catalogue, Pasadena, California, 2015, p. 191)