William Keith (California 1838-1911)

Considered among the “Old Masters of California Art.” The significant body of paintings produced by William Keith – along with his contemporaries, Frederick Church, Albert Bierstadt, George Inness and others – was significant in nourishing a then-growing philosophy in American expansionism, with heroic renderings of the grandeur of places destined to become America's treasured national parks and wildernesses. Keith was an experienced outdoors man; first in the Sierra Nevada, and particularly in Yosemite Valley, where he began a cherished lifetime friendship with naturalist, John Muir.

As Eastern cities were being transformed by the forces (and the grime) of the industrial revolution, the works of Keith and his contemporaries both roused and nourished a growing national appetite for preserving the grandeur of America's western landscape.

Keith's work has been exhibited and remains in the permanent collections of numerous prestigious institutions, including: the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the National Academy of Design.