Herman Hansen (New York, California, Germany, 1854 - 1924) "Cochise" Watercolor. Provenance: Maxwell Galleries San Francisco, California. (Label Verso). Signed lower left. Image Size: 14 x 10 in. Overall Size: 22.25 x 17.5 in. Herman Hansen's father, a rector and draftsman who encouraged his son's talent, sent him at age 16 to Hamburg, Germany to study with a painter of military battles and another who did detailed still lifes. In 1876, Hansen studied in England for a year and learned a meticulous graphics style which determined his photo real western genre. Hearing stories of the American West sparked his imagination, and he emigrated to New York City in 1877. Several years later he went to Chicago where Northwestern Railway personnel in 1879 commissioned advertisement scenes of the West including ones of trains going across Indian country. His most famous western genre work was "The Pony Express," 1900. In 1882, after studying at the Art Institute of Chicago and supporting himself as a commercial artist, he made San Francisco his permanent home, and from there he made frequent sketching trips to Montana and the Southwest. Artist friends and painting companions in San Francisco were William Keith and Maynard Dixon, and he held his first exhibition in 1901. This item is framed behind glass.