Hannan - Eugene E

Hannan, Eugene Elmer (1875-1945)

Eugene Hannan was born in Washington D.C. on July 26, 1875. At age two and a half he was deafened by scarlet fever. He attended Kendall School for the Deaf and Gallaudet College and later received art training at the Corcoran Art School, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Art Students League in New York. For a time, Hannan worked at the U.S. National Museum in Washington, D.C. and at various other jobs. He belonged to the Association of Connecticut Artists. He worked first for the Public Works of Art Project and then completed ten plaques and one bust for the WPA Federal Arts Project. Two of his most ambitious works were bas reliefs, each 22 feet long, titled The Battle of Compo Hill and The Retreat of the British that were installed in the entrance of Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut. He was described by WPA officials as an “excellent sculptor with a more or less academic approach.” Hannan was married to Helen C.  Price and resided in Westport, donating works of sculpture to the town. He died there in 1945.

Sources: WPA Artist’s Work Card; WPA Biography, “Eugene E. Hannan,” in Harry G. Lang and Bonnie Meath-Lang, Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences; A Biographical Dictionary (Westport, Connecticut:  Greenwood Press, 1995), pp. 171-173.

Works of Art Listed in CT Archives’ database from Eugene Hannan:

Hannan, Eugene E.