Marion Kavanaugh Wachtel (June 10, 1873/77 – May 22, 1954) was an American plein air painter in watercolors and oils. She lived and worked with her artist husband Elmer Wachtel in the Arroyo Seco near Pasadena, California, in the early 20th century.

Early life

Marion Kavanagh was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to James Kavanagh

and Jean Jo Auston Kavanagh. Her English mother and Irish grandfather were also painters.

Career

thumb|Sunset Clouds, 1904

She trained at the Art Institute of Chicago, and the California Art Club.<!-- Evidence that Wachtel actually belonged to California Art Club is dubious, though she did exhibit through the club. See: Gerdts, William H. All Things Bright and Beautiful: California Impressionist Paintings from the Irvine Museum. UCI Museuem, 1998. -->She was also a member of the New York Watercolor Club, in New York City.

Posthumous exhibitions

In 2010 an exhibition of Wachtel's work and that of two other turn-of-the-century artists, Annie Harmon and Mary DeNeale Morgan was held at the Saint Mary's College Museum of Art. There were nearly 100 landscape paintings of California in the show made by the en plein air artists.

Collections

Among the collections that hold her works are:

  • California Mountains, oil
  • Coast Mountains of California, before 1907, oil
  • Cypress Point, ca. 1900-1910, oil
  • Elmer Wachtel, ca. 1912, watercolor
  • High Sierras, oil, Laguna Art Museum, California
  • Hillside Path in Early Piedmont, ca. 1900, watercolor
  • Indian Girl, oil
  • Landscape, ca. 1918, watercolor, Laguna Art Museum, California
  • Near Santa Barbara, before 1907, oil
  • Oaks, ca. 1900-1910, watercolor
  • Sycamores, watercolor, Laguna Art Museum, California
  • Teton Park, oil

Notes

References

Further reading

  • Marion Wachtel web site