'Cape Cod Harbor' by Casper Hjalmar Amundsen, Sag Harbor, New York, Whaling, Gloucester, Provincetown

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Signed lower right, 'J. J. Enwright' for Casper Hjalmar Amundsen (American, 1911 - 2001) and painted circa 1965. J.J. Enwright … Read more Signed lower right, 'J. J. Enwright' for Casper Hjalmar Amundsen (American, 1911 - 2001) and painted circa 1965. J.J. Enwright was one among a number of brush-names used regularly by the artist.

Displayed in the original and period, hand-carved and giltwood frame.
Frame dimensions: 34 x 44 inches. Accompanied by a first edition, hard copy of 'Cappy: the Life and Art of C. Hjalmar Amundsen' by Terry Wallace (published 2011) and signed by the author.

'Cappy' 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, the explorer Roald Amundsen, who located the magnetic center of the South Pole the year that Cappy was born.

Hjalmar spent his childhood in Bensonhurst, N.Y., attending grammar school in Brooklyn, and Hackensack, New Jersey, where he also went to secondary school.
He began painting in his early twenties, claiming that he did so because it was easier than any other work he could think of. Amundsen loved the sea, and maintained a lifelong interest in sailing and fishing. While growing up, Hjalmar and his father would drive to the East End of Long Island and go out in a fishing boat together. Later, Cappy bought a boat of his own and went out sailing and fishing as often as he could.

As an adult, the young artist moved back to New York and spent time painting in and around Gloucester and Provincetown, Massachusetts. For six years during this early part of his career, he is believed to have created up to 275 paintings a year under the name of J.J. Enwright,

Living in Greenwich Village, Cappy was one of the co-founders of the Washington Square Art Show in New York, where he exhibited regularly. He also supplemented his income by painting covers for Motor Boating Magazine which brought him to greater public attention.

In 1946, Amundsen moved to Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York, with his second wife Nancy. Here, he opened a studio where he increasingly specialized in bright, Impressionist images of sailing ships, fishing boats and the New England coastline He was gregarious and outgoing character artist and became a well-known and will-liked figure in the community. In September 2003, the Sag Harbor Historical Society held a posthumous exhibition of the artist's paintings.

Reference:
"Sag Harbor's Artist in Residence, Cappy Amundsen Dies," Sag Harbor Express, February 8, 2001 pp 1 and 5
"Cappy Amundsen, Artist, Sailor" obituary, East Hampton Star, January 8, 2001
"Cappy Sea Paintings" Sag Harbor Express, September 4, 2003 See less