Elmer Wachtel was born in
Baltimore, MD on Jan. 21, 1864. When Elmer was quite young, the Wachtel
family moved to Lanard, IL where he worked as a hired hand and taught himself
to play the violin. At age 18 Elmer Wachtel moved to San Gabriel, CA
where his brother had married the sister of artist Guy Rose and was managing
the Rose ranch. He continued playing the violin and in 1888 became first
violinist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. During this period
his talent in drawing and painting emerged and in 1895 he had saved enough
money for one year of study in NYC at the ASL under Wm M. Chase and in London
at the Lambeth School. After returning to California, he lived in Los
Angeles with his parents on Griffin Avenue where he continued to paint while
supplementing his income as a professional violinist. By 1903 his
reputation as a painter was such that Wm Keith sent him one of his young
pupils, Marion Kavanaugh. It was love at first sight and they wed in
1904. Their early married life was spent in a studio on Sichel Street
while they later had a studio-home on Mt Washington until building their final
home in the Arroyo Seco of Pasadena. The Wachtels traveled around
southern California in a specially built motor car designed to accommodate
their artistic needs. They continued painting and exhibiting together
until his sudden death on Aug. 31, 1929 in Guadalajara, Mexico while on a
sketching trip. Elmer Wachtel's early works were tonalist landscapes done
in moody, dark tones; whereas, his palette later lightened as he accepted the
Impressionist esthetic. Elmer Wachtel is now considered one of southern
California's most important painters.
Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California
1786-1940"
ELMER WACHTEL (1870 - 1954)
"Across the Valley, Santa Paula" Oil on canvas 13 5/8" x 17"
ELMER WACHTEL (1864 - 1929)
"Hidden Valley" Oil on canvas 30" x 45"
ELMER WACHTEL (1864 - 1929)
"Point Dume, Malibu" Oil on board 9" x 15"
We Buy and Sell Paintings by these California Artists
If you have a Elmer Wachtel painting or any California Paintings by the artists listed below please give us call seven days a week at any hour on our mobile phone at:
Sam Hyde Harris Harry Raymond Henry Thomas Hill Anna Hills Clarence Hinkle Clark Hobart Ransome Holdredge Thomas Hunt William Jackson Frank Tenny Johnson Carl Jonnevold Amedee Joulin William Lees Judson Ferdinand Kaufman Joseph Kleitsch Emil Kosa, Jr. Emil Kosa, Sr. William Keith Aaron Kilpatrick Paul Lauritz Maurice Logan Jean Mannheim Xavier Martinez Arthur Mathews Evelyn McCormick Thomas McGlynn Alfred Mitchell Frank Montague Moore Mary DeNeale Morgan Charles Christian Nahl Ernest Narjot Bruce Nelson Eugen Neuhaus Peter Nielsen George Wallace Olson
