| Welcome to SP! - Sign-In | Register | ||
| | |
| MbPost.com -- It's SP for Mountain Biking! | ||
Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP > Mount Keith > Additions and Corrections
|
| Clydascope | Untitled Comment | |
Hasn't voted | William Keith was born in old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, Scotland on November 21, 1838. Five months before his birth his father died leaving his mother, himself, and three small sisters. In 1850 Mrs. Keith took her children to New York where her brother lived. Here Keith secured an education, worked in a law office and was later apprenticed to a wood engraver. In 1859 Keith came to California to accept a position on a magazine in San Francisco only to find its publication had been discontinued. He then opened a wood engraving shop of his own. Keith’s marriage to Miss Elizabeth Emerson, a fourth cousin of Ralph Waldo Emerson, in June 1864, marked the beginning of his career as an artist. Mrs. Keith was not only an artist but a teacher of painting and soon recognized that Keith had unusual talent. After earning his first commission as an artist, Keith and his wife traveled to Dusseldorf, Germany so that he might study art. It was at this time Keith began his love and appreciation of nature. In August 1870 Keith returned to New York and soon after opened a studio in Boston where he sold many paintings and received much praise from art critics and patrons. It was at this time Keith and his wife visited Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson advised Keith to look up John Muir in Yosemite. Emerson had previously visited the Valley and had spent time with Muir. Emerson told Keith that he and Muir had much in common as both were born in Scotland, in the same year (1838), and both were nature lovers. Upon his return to California, Keith spent his first night in Yosemite camping with Muir on the shores of Mirror Lake. Then, although it was late October, Muir conducted Keith into the vast mountain splendors of the Yosemite High Sierra. (* It was on this trip that Muir left Keith in Tuolumne Meadows and did the first ascent of Mount Ritter.) Thus, Keith received a wealth of inspiration for his paintings and began a lifelong friendship with the great naturalist. In succeeding years, Keith accompanied Muir on numerous sketching trips into the High Sierra of Yosemite and his paintings were greatly influenced and inspired by Muir’s ideals. Keith later opened a studio in San Francisco and in the earthquake and fire of April 17, 1906, all of but 25 of his 2,000 paintings were destroyed. Undaunted by the loss, Keith painted more furiously than ever before and in 1906 he enjoyed an income of around $100,000 per year. Keith passed away on April 10, 1911. His paintings were exhibited in some of the finest museums in the country. ~Copied from the back of a print of a oil painting circa 1870’s that is titled “Valley View”. *Added to the original text | |
| Posted Jun 15, 2004 12:42 am | ||
|
