Edwin Knutesen

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BORN: May 26, 1901 in La Crosse, WI

DIED: Jan. 23, 1961 in Milwaukee, WI

Edwin Knutesen was a rural Wisconsin artist, born in La Crosse but raised in Coeur d’Alene, ID.

Knutesen first attended the University of Wisconsin – Madison and in 1923, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA) where he studied under George Oberteuffer, Hugh Breckenridge, and Daniel Garber.

He moved to Paris France in 1925 and studied at the Ecole Des Beaux – Arts de Paris and had a studio next to that of American Regionalist and Social Realist lithographer, Adolf Dehn.

He returned to Wisconsin in 1928  to work for the Wisconsin News and attended evening art classes at the Wisconsin State Teachers College in Milwaukee (later University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee) and received his degree in art education in 1930.

He then worked as a teacher in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Charleston, South Carolina for several years before returning to Milwaukee Wisconsin in the mid-1930s. 

During the Great Depression Knutesen was employment by the Federal Arts Project, and WPA.

Knutesen was a member of Milwaukee Businessmen’s Sketch Club and affiliated with the Wisconsin Art Teachers (WAT). He frequently exhibited in Wisconsin State Fairs and Wisconsin Painters Shows, winning several awards.

After his death in 1961, the Charles Allis Art Museum held a Memorial exhibit of his work from October 1–29, 1961.

Of Art he said, “Art is reflecting and accentuating man's own nature at its best”.

Source: Eric Charles Knutesen via AskArt, http://www.askart.com/artist_bio/Edwin_B_Knutesen/125377/Edwin_B_Knutesen.aspx.

Photo 1928 courtesy Eric Knutesen.