Artist

Hjalmar Amundsen

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Hjalmar Amundsen was the professional name of Casper Hjalmar Emerson III, an American painter born in New York City on June 9, 1911. He was born Caspar Hjalmar Emerson III in New York City in 1911, and in 1946 legally changed his name to Hjalmar Amundsen in honor of his great-uncle, explorer Ronald Amundsen, who located the magnetic center of the South Pole. He was in his early twenties when he first began painting, claiming that he only did so, because it was easier than any other work he could think of. He came from an artistic family: Cappy's father, Casper Emerson, Jr. (1878-1948) was an important artist, creating "The Emerson Girl" for the Broadway Magazine in the New York Herald-Tribune, and as a young boy, Cappy spent many hours in his father's studio, learning first hand the basics of drawing and painting.

Amundsen became best known as a marine and coastal painter of the American East Coast. For the next seven or eight years, Cappy traveled along the eastern seaboard in a 33 foot yawl, unable to make a living as an artist he worked as a commercial fisherman, and during this time he lived in Gloucester and Provincetown where he became an active member of the famous Beachcombers Club. In 1946 he moved to Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York, with his second wife Nancy, opened a studio there and became a well-liked figure in the community, painting waterfront images, sailing ships, fishing boats, and the New England coastline. He was also very involved in the artistic community, and was even a founder of the Washington Square Outdoor Art Show, which featured artists like Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, and was also a commercial fisherman which no doubt influenced his maritime pieces, some of which became cover art for the popular Motor Boating Magazine.

A notable quirk that adds interest for collectors is that Amundsen worked prolifically under numerous pseudonyms throughout his career, including J.J. Enwright, F.H. McKay, William Ward Jr., W. Hughes, D. Ainsley, and others, meaning works attributed to these alternate names are in fact by the same hand. This makes his authenticated and clearly signed works, along with rarer subjects outside his usual New England harbor scenes, particularly appealing to collectors of mid-20th-century American impressionist marine and coastal art. He died in 2001, leaving behind a substantial body of work still actively traded at auction today.

Sources:

Lots by Hjalmar Amundsen

Hjalmar Amundsen Tropical Village Print, 1947

Harvest Moon