Marion Wachtel

Marion Kavanaugh Wachtel (June 10, 1873/77 – May 22, 1954) was an American plein air painter in watercolors and oils. She lived and worked with her artist husband Elmer Wachtel in the Arroyo Seco near Pasadena, California, in the early 20th century.

Early life Marion Kavanagh was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to James Kavanagh and Jean Jo Auston Kavanagh. Her English mother and Irish grandfather were also painters.

Career

She trained at the Art Institute of Chicago, and the California Art Club. She was also a member of the New York Watercolor Club, in New York City.

Posthumous exhibitions In 2010 an exhibition of Wachtel's work and that of two other turn-of-the-century artists, Annie Harmon and Mary DeNeale Morgan was held at the Saint Mary's College Museum of Art. There were nearly 100 landscape paintings of California in the show made by the en plein air artists.

Collections Among the collections that hold her works are: California Mountains, oil Coast Mountains of California, before 1907, oil Cypress Point, ca. 1900-1910, oil Elmer Wachtel, ca. 1912, watercolor High Sierras, oil, Laguna Art Museum, California Hillside Path in Early Piedmont, ca. 1900, watercolor Indian Girl, oil Landscape, ca. 1918, watercolor, Laguna Art Museum, California Near Santa Barbara, before 1907, oil Oaks, ca. 1900-1910, watercolor Sycamores, watercolor, Laguna Art Museum, California Teton Park, oil