Thaddeus Welch, California landscape painter

Magazine Antiques, Nov, 2003 by Alfred C. Jr. Harrison

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In 1896 the Welches moved to a wild and deserted location they christened Steep Ravine, about twelve miles by trail and wagon road west of Mill Valley. There Welch built a humble but serviceable cabin on government land, the first place they could call home. A creek flowed down the hillside nearby, providing them with water, and warm springs in a cave near the Pacific Ocean a short walk away afforded them hot baths. Ludmilla Welch planted a vegetable garden, and they foraged for seafood, living off the land in what was essentially a wilderness environment. From this base, they ranged far and wide, painting views of Mount Tamalpais, Bolinas, and other locations, but one of their favorite subjects was their own little house, nestled in its beautiful natural setting. Cabin in Steep Ravine (Pl. V) by Ludmilla Welch demonstrates how good an artist she had become and how deeply she had absorbed her husband's style. Like him, she preferred to paint in the early morning or late afternoon, when long shadows and soft light predominate. Paintings like this project an image of the "simple life" that was being espoused by the increasingly influential arts and crafts movement in the United States in the 1890s. Living in harmony with nature--nature with such enhancements as gardens of sunflowers, hollyhocks, and geraniums--was the ideal that the Welches came close to fulfilling.

During the 1890s Thaddeus Welch developed into a landscape artist of considerable power and virtuosity, painting in a style that was quite original. He retreated from the bravura brushstrokes and bold color strategies he had learned in Europe in favor of more detailed, "realistic" scenes, in which the artistry is hidden (see Pl. VI). Many of his paintings conform to the Barbizon device of letting the beautiful light of dawn or sunset confer an aura of spirituality onto a humble scene of animals grazing in a pasture. But his landscapes do not closely resemble Barbizon paintings, which often show a rougher, less ingratiating manipulation of pigment and a dark "tobacco juice" palette.

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In 1897 the Welches traveled to Portland, Oregon, to visit Thaddeus Welch's mother and other relatives he had not seen for years. While there, he painted City of Portland (Pl. IX), a view from the northwest. Autumn colors are visible in the foreground foliage, and a characteristic rain shower creates a swath of shadows through the middle of the composition, setting up a dramatic contrast to the brilliant sunshine of the foreground and distance. Like the view of Los Angeles, this painting is particularly valuable, for it is one of very few known paintings of Portland to have survived from this era.

The precariousness of Welch's finances at this time is evident in the fact that on his return to Steep Ravine from Portland he had only eighty cents to his name. But his fortunes began to improve. In December 1897 Welch sent two paintings to the annual Bohemian Club exhibition, and for many years after that his paintings appeared in this important showcase for artists in the San Francisco Bay area. The Bohemian Club was founded in 1872 by a group of journalists, artists, and men of means, but it was not until 1894 that the club initiated an annual art exhibition, held in December, which became a lucrative source of sales for the participating artists. (12) The shows called attention to the high quality of Welch's works, and admiring visitors started arriving in Steep Ravine. To accommodate them, Welch erected a sign on the main trail that pointed to his cabin in the canyon below.