Helen Gatch

Helen Plummer Gatch (née Plummer; 1862–1942) was an American painter and photographer known for depicting family members and views of the Oregon Coast.

Early life and education Born in Alton, Illinois, on April 13, 1862, she was one of three daughters of Dr. Orlando P. S. Plummer and Sarah B. Cool. After the death of her mother, the family moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1864.

In 1885, she married Claude Gatch (1859–1939), and they moved to Salem, where he was elected mayor in 1893. Their two children were Orytha "Ryth" (1886–?) and Thomas Leigh "Tam" (1891–1954). The family moved to Berkeley, California, in 1912.

Critical reception

Biographer Roger Hull wrote that Gatch was once a central figure in Pacific Coast pictorial photography, but that she was "an entirely displaced person in the standard histories of the medium." Hull cites as possible reasons for this neglect of her work that it was "'set aside' for reasons of provincialism, changes in aesthetic taste, gender, the politicized world of American photography" and perhaps "her own later indifference". Another Camera Craft review said of her coastal images, " 'Driftwood' and 'Across the Dunes' are full of interest. The latter, which is reproduced, is perfect in composition and tone."

In 1903, she was an organizer of Salon Club of America, a group of amateur photographers who organized exhibitions nationally. She helped organize the Federation of American Photographic Societies in 1904.

Gatch won honorable mention in a 1905 Kodak competition, and "made her mark at the local, regional, and national levels with winning contest entries and acceptance of her work into salons at San Francisco and Philadelphia".

Her last known national exhibit was in 1907. She died in Oakland, California, on January 11, 1942.