FERDINAND BURGDORFF (1881-1975). Etcher, painter, printmaker.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio on November 7, 1881. Burgdorff studied at the Cleveland School of Art and in Paris with René Menard and Florence Este. In 1907 he moved to California and settled on the Monterey Peninsula. During the years 1907-24 he made many trips to the Grand Canyon and the Hopi reservation where he derived much of his subject matter. In 1911 Burgdorff returned to Cleveland where successful exhibitions and sales of his work enabled him to travel about the world for two years. In 1919 he was a resident of Mill Valley, CA and the following year returned to the Monterey Peninsula. He built a home (designed by Bernard Maybeck) in Pebble Beach on Ronda Road and lived there for the rest of his life. At the time of his death on May 12, 1975, Burgdorff was the oldest working artist on the Monterey Peninsula. His subject matter was inspired by the lighthouses on the California coast and the old mining towns; however, he is best known for his many oils, pastels, and watercolors of the Monterey Peninsula.

Member: Carmel Art Ass'n; California Society of Etchers.

Exhibited: Del Monte Art Gallery, 1907; California Society of Etchers, Stanford Univ., 1928; AIC; Print Club of Philadelphia; Golden Gate International Expo, 1939.

Works held: Santa Fe Railway; Harrison Library (Carmel); Yosemite Park Museum (dioramas); U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey); California Historical Society; De Young Museum; Cleveland Museum; Oakland Museum; Ross General Hospital (San Rafael, CA); Monterey Peninsula Community Hospital.

Biography courtesy Edan Hughes