Albert
Marshall (1891-1970)
Albert
Marshall was born in
Rutland
,
Vermont
on May 11, 1891. He was one of four children of Maude and Nathan
Marshall. When he was twelve, the family moved to the
San Joaquin
Valley
and settled near
Lindsay
,
California
. In those days school books had to be purchased and resold at the
end of the school year. His sister remembers his books were always
in demand as there were many drawings in the margins, some showing his
wonderful sense of humor. He graduated from
Lindsay
High School
and attended the San Francisco Art Institute. While working to put
himself through art school, one of his jobs was as a lamplighter.
He was awarded a scholarship to study art in
Paris
,
France
but was unable to go due to lack of funds.
When
World War I started,
Marshall
tried to enlist but was diagnosed with tuberculosis and told to go live
in the mountains to recuperate. This was the beginning of a
lifelong love of painting in the Sierras. One of his first trips
to
Giant
Forest
started from Lindsay in a buckboard and took two and a half days.
During
the Depression and the start of World War II he lived in the La
Crescenta area of
Los Angeles
. Around 1942 an orange grove he had in the
San Joaquin
Valley
started to produce and he, his wife Eleanor and daughter Jean were able
to leave the
Los Angeles
area and move to
Three Rivers
,
California
in the foothillls below
Sequoia
National Park
. They eventually built an adobe house with a studio that
had a view of
Alta
Peak
where he painted and lived the rest of his life. He died on April
23, 1970.
The
Marshall
home was a yearly stop on many artists summer trek to the Sierras.
Ansel Adams was a family friend.
Marshalls
' daughter Jean remembers summer visits to Adams'
Yosemite
studio to visit with Ansel and his wife Virginia. The noted
photographer Cedric Wright was another frequent visitor to the
Marshall
home.
Marshall
belonged to the Sierra Club and was a member of a team surveying and
mapping the Palisade Glacier for the American Alpine Research Fund.
He also discovered a small glacier on
Mt.
Stewart
in
Sequoia
National Park
which he named the Lilliput Glacier.
He
made frequent sketching trips to
South California
to paint the desert. Another of his favorite areas to sketch was
in the eastside of the Sierras around Bishop and Lone Pine. He and
Eleanor took many trips into the Sierras, walking and packing donkeys.
Although primarily a
California
artist, he traveled throughout the West, painting in the Wind
Rivers of Wyoming, the Canadian Rockies, and the mountains and glaciers
of
Alaska.
Originally
painting in oils,
Marshall
switched to watercolors, a medium he stayed with for the rest
of his life. He also mastered the technique of pen and ink,
producing black and white sketches that reveal his unique style and
vision of the
California
landscape. He is best known for his desert scenes with smoke
trees; dramatic mountains with unique clouds; intricate shading of snow
covered peaks and vibrant
California
foothills.
His
work has been shown at the following:
Palace
of
Legion of Honor
--
San Francisco
Sierra
Club Office
Francis Webb Galleries
Stanford
University
Art
Gallery
Corner
Art Shop-- Columbus and Jackson--San Francisco
Los Angeles
Museum
at Mission Inn--
Riverside
Jonathan
Club--
Los Angeles
The
following is an excerpt from an article published in The Jonathan,
Volume LII, No.12, December 1985:
Albert Marshall Watercolors Acquired
By Paul Chevalier
The Art Committee is pleased to announce the acquisition of three Albert
Marshall watercolors...
In the 1930's
California
watercolorists gained national recognition for their innovations to the
medium.
California
watercolorists were among the first to move up to working on half
and full sheets of watercolor paper. In their hands
watercolors turned from a timid medium to works full of vigor and
strength, almost rivaling oils.
Marshall
was part of this movement....
Marshall
selected familiar subjects: windswept pines clinging to cracks in
granite mountains; ice fields in the Sierra valleys, desert sinks
enfolded by starkly naked mountains.
His main contribution to the arts lies in his unique style.
Marshall
saw
California
as Georgia O'Keefe saw
New Mexico
or Sheeler saw
Pennsylvania
-with a hard edge precisionism. His scenes become almost
puzzle-like in the separateness and distinctness of the colored shapes
that combine to form landscapes. It is uniqueness of style which
makes an artist important.....
