WILLIAM KEITH (American, 1839-1911). View of Mount Shasta, 1891. Oil on canvas. 23 x 32 inches (58.4 x 81.3 cm). Signed ...

Description

WILLIAM KEITH (American, 1839-1911)
View of Mount Shasta, 1891
Oil on canvas
23 x 32 inches (58.4 x 81.3 cm)
Signed and dated lower left: W. Keith/ S.F. 91

PROVENANCE:
Joseph Sartor Galleries, Dallas (label verso);
Private collection, Highland Park, Dallas.

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.


More information about WILLIAM KEITH. See also: Keith, William, William Keith Artist.

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