Welch, Mary (1875-1967) untitled mountain landscape, oil on canvas, signed in lower right, fair condition, some crazing in paint, canvas size:16 x 20 inches. Mary Welch, born 10 years after the end of the Civil War, was a woman ahead of her time. She signed her paintings, M. Welch, hoping that potential buyers wouldn't discover she was a woman. More often than not, when they learned her sex, art dealers lost interest.Welch's work shows influences of her art training with Lindsborg artist Birger Sandzen and English artist Robert Wood.She graduated with a degree in painting from the University of Kansas in 1898, a time when few women dared to study beyond high school,From 1940 to 1942, Welch traveled along the California coast collecting sketches and paintings. She also painted on site in Kansas, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois.The Hutchinson artist never married, never had children. But when she died in 1967, she left an impressive body of paintings, many of them familiar Kansas landscapes.

fair, some crazing

22 x 26 x 1.75 in

4.2 lb