William Keith's career was new when California was new. He arrived before the transcontinental railroad, and lived through the great '06 quake in San Francisco. His masterful brushstrokes preserved the the history and beauty of the state so loved. Keith shared close friendships with notable Californians of his day, naturalist and writer John Muir, industrialist E. H. Harriman, and fellow artists like Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Hill. More ...

William Keith was born in 1838 in a small village near Aberdeen, Scotland. His father died before he was born, and his mother asked the aid of her parents to keep and care for the newborn. Keith's grandfather was a pillar of the Presbyterian Church, a stern, gruff, and solemn old time Presbyterian. Once returned to his mother, he continued to be raised in a strict religious fashion, filled with rote memorization of large portions of scripture.

But he did gain a lifelong love of reading, and became a skilled writer. In time, Keith would come to reject this strict training. Later on, he developed his distaste for nit-picking details, a trait which found its way into his art. As an art teacher later on, Keith stressed to his students the importance of painting "from" nature, not copying it.

At age 12, he emigrated to New York with his mother and three sisters. He remained during his teenaged years in New York, ending up as a junior engraver for Harper and Brothers. Although none of the engravings in Harper's Weekly bears Keith's signature, it is believed his apprentice status precluded him from signing his work. Keith is believed to have arrived as a steerage passenger in San Francisco on June 2, 1859.

He began his California life on the bottom rung, steering clear of doing service in the Civil War, choosing instead to work as an engraver, and continuing to train for his life as a painter. He married "Lizzie" Emerson, a ship captain's daughter and distant relative of Ralph Waldo Emerson.

As Keith began promoting himself as a San Francisco painter of landscapes, he had some stiff competition. Charles Christian Nahl, Frederica A. Butman, Virgil Williams, along with up and comer Thomas Hill were also major voices in the art colony of San Francisco. After the Civil War, Butman, Hill, and Williams left town, and Keith worked to fill the vacuum. During the 1860's, he painted watercolors at first, but later on moved to oils. It was at this time the transcontinental railroad was opened, and California began filling with new travelers. The Oregon Navigation and Railroad Company commissioned Keith to paint the dramatic scenery of the Northwest to promote their railroad. Keith later said of this experience, "I was suddenly revealed to myself," and upon his return to San Francisco, he established himself as a full time artist.

In 1870, Keith visited Europe for a year, and then came back to the U.S., establishing himself in Maine and Boston, as did another former Californian, Thomas Hill. Because travel to California was now possible, Bostonians were eager to learn more of the state's natural wonders. Keith and Hill were ready and willing to help the Easterners gain a vision of the state's grandeur.

Keith returned to San Francisco in May of 1872, but found himself again in competition. Hill returned about the same time, and a newcomer named Albert Bierstadt had established his studio.

In June of 1874, Keith began an extensive period of travel about California, often with his friend and fellow Scot, John Muir. On his first trip, Keith explored the highlands of Yosemite visiting Tuolumne Meadows, and venturing down Bloody Canyon to Mono Lake and on to the Owens Valley. Trips to all corners of the state followed, from Mt. Shasta in the north to Los Angeles in the South.

After Lizzie died in March of 1882, Keith was devastated. In June of 1883, he married a former art student, Mary McHenry. She was a lawyer, the first woman graduate of Hasting's Law School, but didn't practice after her marriage to Keith. She was active in the suffragette movement.