Ian Hansen

Ian was born in South Australia and his childhood years were spent on the foreshore of Hervey Bay in Queensland. Ian had a natural talent for drawing and at eight years old he was painting with water colours and movied to oils when he was eleven.

Ian joined the Royal Australian Navy at fifteen and served for twelve years, including service on HMAS Sydney in 1967-68 during the Vietnam War. Ian painted continually in off duty hours, recording the ships and scenes he observed during his travels.

When he left the Navy, Ian became a successful full-time painter and has since had exhibitions in the US, UK and Australia.  Ian lives and works in Hunters Hill, Sydney.

In 2000 Ian was invited by the Royal Australian Navy to go to East Timor and record the Navy’s involvement during the crisis, he spent time on several ships sketching and painting, the resulting paintings now hang in the Navy’s Fleet Headquarters.

He did a trip to Antarctica in 2002 aboard the Sir Hubert Wilkins on a five-week voyage, during which Ian sketched and painted the magnificent scenes of the great southern continent.

In 2013, Ian was appointed as the official artist for the International Fleet Review '2013' commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Australian Navy.

Ian now mainly does commissioned artworks, such as the Postage stamp of HMVS Cerberus launched by Australia Post in March 2021 to commemorate 150th Anniversary of the vessel’s historic entry to service in Australia in 1871.

Ian is a Fellow of The Royal Art Society, a Fellow of The Australian Institute of History and Arts and a Fellow of The Australian Society of Marine Artists. His works hang in Government House Sydney, Sydney Stock Exchange, Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney Heritage Fleet, Royal Australian Navy, Naval Historical Society, Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, Lady Denman Museum, AMP building, Qantas House, Huskisson Maritime Museum Jervis Bay and many corporate and private collections throughout the World.