Gustav Adolph Hensel Art for Sale at Auction

b. 1874 - d. 1953

Born in Germany on Aug. 13, 1874, Gustav Hensel graduated from a Lutheran seminary in Berlin in 1903 and came to the U.S. in 1906. He served in churches in the Midwest before moving to San Francisco in 1914. There he was pastor of St John's Reformed Church until 1922.

During this period he painted portraits and religious genre, most of which were not signed. He then returned to the East Coast and was a missionary in Africa for three years.

For many years he was a pastor in Salkville, Wisconsin. Upon retirement in 1941, he returned to San Francisco and lived there until his demise in San Jose on April 15, 1953.

His work is in Woodlawn Cemetery (Colma); St John's Church of Christ (SF); St Peters Church (Salkvill

Source: Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"