Laurence Hosmer (1895-1984) Biography

Laurence Hosmer (1895-1984) Biography

Hosmer was born in Lamberton, Minnesota and moved with his family to California in 1903. He enrolled in the California School of Fine Arts in 1917, studying with Frank Van Sloun and Lee Randolph. In 1930 Hosmer moved to Lodi, California and established a vineyard which he managed while continuing to paint.

He was the fine arts director of the Lodi Grape Festival and National Wine Show from 1950 to 1977. In the 1950s Hosmer restored a Gold Rush-era building in the ghost town of Volcano and opened the Cobblestone Gallery in it. Hosmer worked primarily in oil, painting impressionistic landscapes of the Sierra Nevada, Monument Valley, Owens Valley and the gold mining country of the Sierra foothills.