Chronology
1904 Hans Burkhardt was born in Basel, Switzerland on the 20th of December
1907 Burkhardt's father leaves for America
1910 Burkhardt's mother dies, he and his siblings are placed in an orphanage
1924 Arrives in New York City to join his father
1925-28 Studies at the Copper Union in New York City
1928 Meets and begins to study with Arshile Gorky at Grand Central School of the Arts in New York City
1929 Marries Louise Thiele
1931 Daughter, Elsa, born
1936 After long domestic struggles, Louise divorces Burkhardt, who signs over his estate to Elsa
1937 Burkhardt moves to Los Angeles, California
1948 Arshile Gorky commits suicide
1954 Marries Thordis Westhassel
1961-63 Burkhardt teaches as a professor of painting and drawing at the University of California at Los Angeles
1964-74 Teaches at California State University, Northridge
1992 Awarded Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
1994 Dies on April 22nd
Awards
1945 Purchase Award, Los Angeles County Museum, Annual Exhibition
1951 Cash Award, Terry Art Institute
1954 First Prize Modern Oil, California State Fair and Exposition
1957 Junior Art Council Prize, Los Angeles County Museum
Purchase Prize in Oil, Los Angeles All-City Art Festival
Cash Award in Pastel, California State Fair and Expo
1958 Ala Story Purchase Award, Santa Barbara Museum of Art Second Annual Pacific Coast Biennial
1960 First Purchase Award in Watercolor, Los Angeles All-City Art Festival
Merchandise Award, California Watercolor Society
1961 First Purchase Award in Oil, California All-City Art Festival
1963 Purchase Award, California Watercolor Society
1969 Silver Medal, Academia Tomasso Campanella Rome International Academy of Arts
Selected Solo Exhibitions
1939 Stendahl Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1945 Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
1945-47 California Watercolor Society, Walnut Creek, CA
1947 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
1953 University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
1957 Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA
1961/1977 Santa Barbara Museum, Santa Barbara, CA
1962 Fresno Art Center, Fresno, CA
1964 Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
1966 Laguna Beach Alliance for the Arts, Orange County, CA
1968 San Diego Museum, San Diego, CA
1990 Portland Museum, Portland, OR
Selected Group Exhibitions
1947 Second Annual Exhibition of Painting, California Palace Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA
Modern Artists in Transition, Modern Institute of Art, Beverly Hills, CA
Twentieth Biennial Exhibition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
1949 Annual Exhibition of Western Art, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
1950 American Painting Today, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY
1951 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, NY
1961 Two Hundred Years of American Painting, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
1964 Art of Southern California-Early Moderns, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
1976 Painting and Sculpture in California: The Modern Era, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA; Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
1987 Elders of the Tribe, FHP Hippodrome Gallery, Long Beach, CA
1991 Constructivism: Past and Present, Ersgard Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1993 The Generative Spirit, Art Institute of Southern California, Laguna Beach, CA
1994 Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
Honors
1991 City of Los Angeles Proclaiming Hans Burkhardt Week October 11-17, Citation from Mayor Tom Bradley
1992 The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters' Jimmy Ernst Award in Art for Lifetime Achievement
Public Collections
Works by the artist may be found at the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, San Diego Art Museum, and at the Long Beach Museum of Art.
Bibliography
Paul J. Karlstrom, "Oral History Interview with Hans Burkhardt, 1974 November 25th," Archives of American Art, Los Angeles, CA, 1974.
Susan Einstein, "Los Angeles Art Community Portrait: Hans Burkhardt Interview," Oral History Program at the University of California Los Angeles, 1977.
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940," Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, 2002.
"Hans Burkhardt: 1950-1960." Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Inc. Los Angeles, CA. 1987.
"Hans Burkhardt: Paintings Drawings Studies." The San Diego Art Institute.
Hans Gustav Burkhardt (1904-1994), AskArt.com. Artists' Bluebook. 2012.
Peter Falk. Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975. Sound View Press, 1985, p.509
Smithsonian Institution. Collections Search Center. 2012.