Hanus Skálagarð
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Hanus Skálagarð, also known by the pseudonyms Hans Skalagard or Hans Skálagarð, (7 February 1924 – March 3, 2017) was a Faroese-American painter and merchant mariner. .[1][2][3]
Hanus Skálagarð | |
|---|---|
| Born | 7 February 1924 |
| Died | 3 March 2017 (aged 93) |
| Citizenship | Faroese, later United States |
| Education | Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts |
| Known for | Maritime painting |
| Spouse |
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Life
Hanus was born on Skálagarð farm in Skúvoy, Faroe Islands, and was the eldest of seven siblings.[1] He began painting at the age of eight.[4] Disliking farm life, Hanus decided early on to become a seafarer.[5] In 1937, when he was just 13, he went to work as an apprentice fisherman aboard a four-masted bark in the Arctic Ocean fishing cod, a common path for boys his age in the Faroe Islands.[3] On 8 September 1939, shortly after transferring from the Olivebank to a tanker, the old sailing vessel was struck by a mine in the North Sea and sank. Of its 21-man crew, only seven were rescued.[3][6]
Hanus arrived in Boston, U.S., in 1942 at the age of 18.[3][5] During World War II, he joined the Merchant navy and completed a total of 33 crossings of the North Atlantic.[3][4] During the war, three of the ships he worked on were targeted and sunk by German submarines.[2][3]
Hanus came to San Francisco in 1954 and met Mignon Haack, they married the following year and he became a naturalized U.S. citizen.[3] His seafaring would come to an end in 1968 after some 31 years at sea.[5]
Works
Hanus and his wife, Mignon, owned and operated their own gallery, "Skalagard's Square-Rigger Art Gallery" in Carmel-by-the-sea, California, from 1965 until its closure in 1997.[3][4]
During his long career he has produced around 3,500 oil works.[3] Some of his works are displayed in the Monterey Maritime Museum, the Los Angeles County Maritime Museum, and the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum.[4]