Richard H. Jansen

BORN: 1919

DIED: 1988

Richard Jansen was born in Wisconsin in 1910 of Norwegian and German ancestry.

He graduated from Layton School of Art in Milwaukee in the late 1920's. After graduation, he completed a series of paintings depicting scenes in Civilian Conservation Camps (CCC) under the auspices of the Federal Government. 

In 1934 he was employed by the Works Project Administration (WPA) and sent to Key West, Florida, where he painted murals depicting the history of Key West as well as its potential as a resort area. Richard Jansen painted murals in 1940 for the Reedsburg, Wisconsin Post Office ("Dairy Farming") and in 1942 for the Sauk Centre, Minnesota Post Office ("Threshing Wheat").

He was drafted into the Army during World War II where he served in the Middle East Theater as official artist-correspondent. After the war, he entered the field of advertising developing media for clients to include Remington Firearms, Mercury Outboard Motors, Miller High Life and other companies. In 1957 he joined the National Park Service. He painted 12 dioramas including those on display in Visitor Centers at Yorktown, Jamestown, Fort Sumter, Bloody March, Kitty Hawk, St. Simons Island and the Grand Canyon.

In 1970 he transferred to the Agriculture Department where he served as Head Illustrator. Richard H. Jansen retired in 1975 and died in January 1988.

Photo: Unknown Photographer, Archives of American Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons