Hanus Skálagarð

Hanus Skálagarð
Born(1924-02-07)7 February 1924
Died3 March 2017(2017-03-03) (aged 93)
CitizenshipFaroese, later United States
EducationRoyal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
Known forMaritime painting
Spouse
  • Mignon Diana Haack
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1955; died 2015)​

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]

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]

References

  1. 1 2 Lindenskov, Eirikur (5 January 2015). "Mynd av Skálagarð til børn í fátækaváða". www.in.fo (in Faroese). Retrieved 5 April 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. 1 2 Smith, Chris (12 April 2017). "Petaluma painter, WWII merchant mariner Hans Skalagard dies at 93". Petaluma Argus-Courier. Archived from the original on 5 April 2026. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Smith, Chris (22 March 2010). "Canvas still unfurling". The Press Democrat. Archived from the original on 5 April 2026. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Liberatore, Paul (17 May 2010). "At 86, famed maritime artist Skalagard still creates striking paintings seven days a week". Marin Independent Journal. Archived from the original on 5 April 2026. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 Hansen, Uni L. (4 April 2026). "Sjómaður úr Skúgvi gjørdist heiðraður listamaður í USA". Kringvarp Føroya (in Faroese). Archived from the original on 5 April 2026. Retrieved 5 April 2026.
  6. ↑ "Olivebank". Tacoma History. 21 May 2018. Archived from the original on 5 April 2026. Retrieved 5 April 2026.