William Keith (American, 1838 to 1911)
One of California’s most successful and prolific painters of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, William Keith found in Mt. Shasta a subject of enduring inspiration. He traveled to the area on numerous sketching trips, sometimes in the company of his great friend and fellow naturalist, John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club. Both men were natives of Scotland who met in the Yosemite Valley in 1872 and formed a lifelong bond. Both were committed to preserving California’s natural beauty and wilderness areas and both found supreme artistic inspiration in those lands. Of Mt. Shasta, Keith wrote in his sketchbook in 1878, “clothed in white, mystic, wonderful.” Keith painted Shasta from two primary vantage points, one close to the base of the mountain, and the other, such as this painting, from a greater distance that allowed the artist to present the full grandeur of the landscape. Keith wrote that he preferred the more distant vantage point because it presented a more encompassing view of the mountain. Keith began sketching and painting Mt. Shasta as early as 1868.
For much of his life, Keith lived in Berkeley and commuted to his studio in San Francisco. He marked many of his paintings with an S.F. below his signature to indicate the studio’s location. In 1891 Keith shared his San Francisco studio with Tonalist George Inness, Sr. (1825-1894). At his death in 1911, Keith was said to have been the most financially successful artist in California.
Information courtesy of Heritage Galleries, May 2008.
Born in 1838 in Aberdeen, Scotland, Keith immigrated to New York in 1850 where he apprenticed at the shop of a wood engraver. In 1856 he was employed by Harper’s magazine and, on assignment, he first visited California. Keith eventually settled there, married Elizabeth Emerson and opened a studio for the exhibition of his works in 1864. Having been taught to paint by his wife, Keith began painting grand mountain panoramas, while also creating intimate landscapes in the manner of the French Barbizon movement. Keith also taught painting and printmaking, primarily to women, and became an immensely influential instructor. From 1871 to 1872 the Keiths lived in Boston where they shared a studio with William Hahn. It is at this time that Keith’s work is recognized at the National Academy of Design. He later returned to California where he continued to create epic mountain views of extraordinary size.
Information courtesy of Skinner, Inc. March 2007.