| William Frederic Ritschel 1864 - 1949 |
Dutch Pinks in the Surf
Katwijk, Holland, early 1890's
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Although William Frederic Ritschel was a well established artist in Europe and New York, he made California his home. At age 46, William Ritschel settled in Carmel in 1911.
He
was one of the first artists to establish residence in Carmel. After the San Francisco earthquake in 1906, many artists moved from the city seeking firmer soil, many to the East Bay and others to Carmel. Ritschel built a castle like house which he named Castellammare, named for a seaport town sounth of Naples, Italy.
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The art works of William Frederic Ritschel are held by major museums, with an extensive collection at the Monterey Art Museum.
William Ritschel was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1864. He studied art at the Royal Academy in Munich before emigrating to New York City in 1895. Much of his young life was spent at sea, and it is not surprising that as an artist his focus was on capturing the sea with its many personalities.
He was a member of the NY WC Club; American WC Society; Carmel AA; Bohemian Club; Société Internationale des Beaux Arts et des Lettres (Paris); Academy of Western Painters (LA); Allied AA; and NAC. He was exhibited in many prestigious venues.
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His watercolors tended to be rendered in mixed media, including gouache and even pastel pigment touches.
In the early 1890's, Ritschel painted a number of coastal scenes near the city of Katwijk, Holland, about 10 miles north of the Hague.
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William Ritschel, Katwijk Beach. c. early 1890's
collection of the Art Institute of Chicago
The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection
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We are pleased to offer one of these Katwijk scenes above.
A similar painting (above - right) is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.
At the time, Ritschel was studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich between 1888 and 1894. His seascapes and paintings of horses were exhibited throughout Germany and in Paris. He came to the U.S. in 1895. |
