William Keith
1838-1911
BORN IN
Aberdeenshire, Scotland
KNOWN FOR
Plein-aire landscape painting, history, genre, portrait
Brought to New York City in 1850, William Keith was apprenticed to a wood engraver in 1856 working for “Harper’s” magazine. In 1858 (or 1859) he visited California for “Harper’s” and then after a trip to Great Britain, settled in California as an engraver in 1862. He began exhibiting paintings in 1864 in San Francisco where he opened his studio, after having been taught painting by his wife.
When George Inness visited California in 1890, he worked in Keith’s studio for many weeks, and they made sketching trips together. The result for Keith was an influenced style reflecting the subjective rather than the spectacular.
The 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed 2,000 of Keith’s works.
