Herman R. Dietz (1860-1923) Russian/American, (2) Oil Paintings. Painted in San Francisco. #2689 inscribed "Jun. '70" and has a unique figural doodle on back. #2698 signed "H.R. Dietz" and dated "AD 1890" bottom left. 

Overall (#2689): 27 X 35 in. 

Sight (#2689): 21 1/4 X 29 1/2 in. 

Depth (#2689): 2 in. 

Overall (#2698): 32 1/2 X 13 3/4 in. 

Sight (#2698): 29 1/2 X 10 3/4 in. 

#2689, #2698 . 

Herman Richard Kissner Dietz was born in Russia on June 24th, 1860. He took art lessons as a child from his uncle Nielander in Saint Petersburg. Due to growing political unrest and his outspoken beliefs he fled the country in 1876 when he was just 15 years old. He applied for asylum in England and was granted it the following year, immigrating to London where he continued his private art studies for several years. In 1880 he moved to Queensland, Australia where he became the official artist for a government expedition to New Guinea. His detailed sketches and paintings of this voyage were considered risque but faithfully executed, and garnered him international attention. In 1889 he settled into a studio in San Francisco, constantly capturing harbor scenes and exhibiting in galleries along the West Coast. He was active there until the earthquake of 1906, when nearly all his paintings were tragically lost in the following fire that consumed the city. Traumatized by the experience, he disappeared from public life, producing many fewer works (often with much darker colors, sharper brush strokes, and distinctively rougher waves than in his youth), and died in Healdsburg, California on November 10th, 1923.