Joseph Mellor Hanson (1900-1963) was a British-born

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

painter who worked primarily in

figure painting A figure painting is a work of fine art in any of the painting media with the primary subject being the human figure, whether clothed or nude. Figure painting may also refer to the activity of creating such a work. The human figure has been on ...

, with an abstract approach. His work can be placed in the tradition of

geometric abstraction Geometric abstraction is a form of abstract art based on the use of geometric forms sometimes, though not always, placed in non-illusionistic space and combined into non-objective (non-representational) compositions. Although the genre was popu ...

Education

Hanson was born on the family farm in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, England. He began studying art at fifteen and took evening drawing classes to prepare him for admission to Halifax Technical College. He received a McRae Scholarship at nineteen to support his studies and graduated in 1924.

Training

Hanson studied in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

from 1925 to 1935 with

Othon Friesz Achille-Émile Othon Friesz (6 February 1879 – 10 January 1949), who later called himself Othon Friesz, a native of Le Havre, was a French artist of the Fauvist movement. Biography Othon Friesz was born in Le Havre, the son of a long line of s ...

and was his first student; he subsequently became Friesz’ assistant in his studio. By 1928, Hanson had progressed far enough to participate in the Salon des Artistes Indépendants and presented a solo exhibition at the Galerie “Mots et Images”. He continued to paint and exhibit throughout his life. During his years in Paris, Hanson was associated with several influential artists of the period, Andre L’Hôte,

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

Jean Hélion Jean Hélion (April 21, 1904October 27, 1987) was a French painter whose abstract work of the 1930s established him as a leading modernist. His midcareer rejection of abstraction was followed by nearly five decades as a figurative painter. He w ...

, as well as

. He was also closely associated with

Amédée Ozenfant Amédée Ozenfant (15 April 1886 – 4 May 1966) was a French cubist painter and writer. Together with Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (later known as Le Corbusier) he founded the Purist movement. Education Ozenfant was born into a bourgeois f ...

, acting from 1927 to 1935 as his assistant in the execution of murals and helping with the instruction of pupils in his private art academy.

Career

In 1935 Hanson returned to England, and after a year in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, he taught until 1938 in a small grammar school in

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

. In 1939 he settled in New York City and, in 1945, began teaching at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

. At his retirement he was a professor of art in the College of Architecture, which is now a part of the Cornell University College of Architecture, Art and Planning. Hanson worked in a highly disciplined style and left behind a relatively small but distinguished body of work. A large portion of his art was donated to the Andrew Dickson White Museum of Art, now the

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art ("The Johnson Museum") is an art museum located on the northwest corner of the Arts Quad on the main campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its collection includes two windows from Frank Lloyd W ...

at Cornell University as a bequest of the artist. His work was explored by

Paul Ziff (Robert) Paul Ziff (22 October 1920 in New York City – 9 January 2003 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina) was an American artist and philosopher specializing in semantics and aesthetics. Life and Career He was born in New York City in 1920 t ...

in his 1962 monograph on the artist published by the

Cornell University Press The Cornell University Press is the university press of Cornell University; currently housed in Sage House, the former residence of Henry William Sage. It was first established in 1869, making it the first university publishing enterprise in th ...

Exhibitions

*Galerie "Mots et Images," Paris, France 1928 *

Société des Artistes Indépendants The Société des Artistes Indépendants (''Society of Independent Artists'') or Salon des Indépendants was formed in Paris on 29 July 1884. The association began with the organization of massive exhibitions in Paris, choosing the slogan "''sans ...

(a.k.a. Salon des Sur-Indépendants) Paris, France 1928-1929-1930 *Galerie Aubier, Paris, France 1929 *Galerie Jeanne Castel, Paris, France 1935 *

Wertheim Gallery Lucy Carrington Wertheim (''née'' Pearson; 1882, in Whitechapel, London – 1971, in Brighton) was an English gallery owner who founded the Twenties Group of "English artists in their twenties" in 1930 and was Christopher Wood's main patron ...

, London, England 1937-1938 *

Bankfield Museum Bankfield Museum is a grade II listed historic house museum, incorporating a regimental museum and textiles gallery in Boothtown, Halifax, England. It is notable for its past ownership and development by Colonel Edward Akroyd, MP, and its gr ...

, Halifax, England 1938 *Passedoit Gallery, New York, New York, U.S. 1941-1957 *The Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. 1943-1950 *

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

, Chicago, Illinois, U.S. 1950 *

Toledo Museum of Art The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...

, Toledo, Ohio, U.S. 1950 *

Cranbrook Academy of Art The Cranbrook Educational Community is an education, research, and public museum complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. This National Historic Landmark was founded in the early 20th century by newspaper mogul George Gough Booth. It consists of Cr ...

, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, U.S. 1953 *

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, 25th Anniversary, New York, New York, U.S. 1954 *Nebraska Art Association, Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S. 1954 *

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

, Washington, D.C., U.S. 1959 *

(Formerly the A.D. White MuseumW) Ithaca, New York, U.S. 1960 source:

Museum collections

, Halifax, England *

, New York, New York U.S. *

Georgia Museum of Art The Georgia Museum of Art is an art museum in Athens, Georgia, United States, associated with the University of Georgia (UGA). The museum is both an academic museum and, since 1982, the official art museum of the state of Georgia. The permanent co ...

, Athens, Georgia, U.S. *

National Museum Cardiff National Museum Cardiff ( cy, Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd) is a museum and art gallery in Cardiff, Wales. The museum is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Entry is kept free by a grant from the Welsh Go ...

, Cardiff, Wales *

The Hepworth Wakefield The Hepworth Wakefield is an art museum in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, which opened on 21 May 2011. The gallery is situated on the south side of the River Calder and takes its name from artist and sculptor Barbara Hepworth who was born an ...

, Yorkshire, England * William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. *

, Ithaca, New York, U.S. source:

References

External links

* https://normandaly.com/biography/joseph-hanson/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanson, Joseph Mellor 20th-century American artists Modernists 1900 births 1963 deaths Cornell University faculty British expatriates in France British emigrants to the United States