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  Nile Behncke “Oshkosh, Wisconsin” Watercolor and pencil on paper c. 1935

  NILE BEHNCKE (1894-1954) USA

  Oshkosh, Wisconsin  c. 1935

  Watercolor and pencil on paper

  Painting: H: 20 ¼” x W: 24 ¾”

  Framed: H: 33” x W: 37 1/2”

  Nile Juergen Behncke was a well-known Wisconsin watercolorist and the first director of the Oshkosh Public Museum, from 1924-1954.

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  Hank Pitcher, “Life Guard Tower”, Oil on canvas c. 2002

  HANK PITCHER (b. 1949) U.S.A.

  “Life Guard Tower” c. 2002

  Oil on canvas

  Signed (on back)

  For more information see: Hank Pitcher Surf, exhibit. cat. (Santa Barbara: Sullivan Goss Gallery, 2003); Surfboard Wax – A History, Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2005).

  Canvas H: 15 7/8” x W: 19 7/8”

  Framed: H: 21 3/8” x W: 25 3/8”

  Pitcher’s surfboard paintings are the symbol of California beach culture…strong, definite, positive and euphoric statements about life in California. The surfboard’s power as totem is seen in its power to convey identity: surfer, Californian, Hank Pitcher. All are identifiable from this symbolic representation. Hank Pitcher is the voice of California culture. At the beach, in the surf, approaching the foothills, in the mountains, on the spit of Point Conception, in the crags of Big Sur, at a beach campfire in Santa Barbara, Pitcher paints the icons of California’s culture.

  Hank Pitcher’s paintings are grounded in a particular sense of place. He was born in Pasadena, California on July 20, 1949, but his family moved to Isla Vista, near Santa Barbara, when he was two years old. When they came to Isla Vista it was an outpost on the beach, and Goleta was a farm town where kids rode their horses down the avenue to buy candy at the store. He was a football star at San Marcos High School and was recruited by big-name universities. Instead of football, he chose to attend the College of Creative Studies, an alternative program within the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) where he now teaches painting. He splits his time between painting and surfing, pursuing each with the commitment and energy of a linebacker.