Beth Van Hoesen (American, b. 1926)
Van Hoesen is known for her portraiture, animals, still lives, and flora and adds personality, posture, and dynamism to her work. In Artist and Self Portrait, Van Hoesen portrays her husband Mark Adams, also an artist, and his self-portrait looking almost identical as a visual joke of a portrait within a portrait—both peering directly out at the viewer. Details such as the salon-hung art on the wall, sheet music notes, and the plug-in paint a picture of what is presumably their interior space.
After receiving her BA from Stanford University, Van Hoesen studied at distinguished art schools, including the Escuela de Pintura y Escultura de la Escuela Esmeralda in Mexico City, the Ecole des beaux Arts de Fontainebleau, the Academie Julian, and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. Her works can be found in the collections of various museums, especially those on the West Coast, including the Boise Art Museum; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; The Oakland Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena; San Jose Museum of Art; Stanford University Libraries; University of California, Berkeley; and The Portland Art Museum, Oregon.
