Artist Biography

Peter H. ROHDE
1879 - 1949

Peter H. Rohde was born in Odense, Denmark in 1879. He immigrated with his family to San Francisco in 1893 and established a home at 2858 21st Street in the Mission District. During his teens he and his brother, Arendt, worked as house painters. Around the turn of the century he enrolled at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art. He began exhibiting in the annuals of the San Francisco Art Ass'n in 1912, and in that year became a citizen of the United States. About 1920 he continued his art studies at the California School of Fine Arts under Piazzoni and Stackpole. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Santa Clara, CA where he spent the rest of his life. Although he did a few sculptures and etchings, he was primarily a painter of portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. His work reflects the Impressionists' concern with color and light and qualifies him as an able interpreter of California scenery. Rohde died on June 5, 1949. Exhibited: San Francisco Art Ass'n, 1912-20; Sorosis Club, 1913; Panama Pacific International Expo, 1915; California Society of Etchers, 1917-20; California Industrial Expo, San Diego, 1926.

Return to artwork page.