William J. Schaldach (1896-1982), Leaping Brook Trout

Lot 108

About Seller

20 Winter Street
Pembroke, MA 02359
United States

Founded in 2005, Copley Fine Art Auctions is a boutique auction house specializing in antique decoys and American, sporting, and wildlife paintings. Over the course of the last two decades, the firm has set auction records for not only individual decoy makers, but also entire carving regions. Copley...Read more

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About Auction

The Winter Sale 2025, Day 1 by Copley Fine Art Auctions

Live

The Winter Sale 2025, Day 1

By Copley Fine Art Auctions

Feb 21, 2025

Set Reminder 2025-02-21 10:00:00 2025-02-21 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : The Winter Sale 2025, Day 1 https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/copley/the-winter-sale-2025-day-1-17703 Lots 1-261 Copley Fine Art Auctions cinnie@copleyart.com

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Lot Description

William J. Schaldach (1896-1982)
Leaping Brook Trout
signed "Wm J. Schaldach" lower left
watercolor, 13 by 16 1/4 in.

William Joseph Schaldach was born in Elkhart, Indiana, in 1896. From a young age, he showed great interest in hunting and fishing. Schaldach moved to Michigan with his family in 1908. As a teenager he spent much of his time writing, drawing, and exploring the countryside. An ambitious young man, Schaldach published an article of his own illustrations at the age of nineteen. After high school and a stint in the Navy, William Schaldach attended the Art Students League in New York. He studied the techniques of painting, drypoint, and etching with revered professors: John Sloan, George Bridgman, and Harry Wickey.

Many of Schaldach's paintings and etchings reflect his background as a sportsman. His favorite subjects were wildfowl, anglers with fly rods in rivers, streams and lakes, and game fish in the water. Schaldach was employed by the magazine "Forest and Stream" as a managing editor until the late 1930s. He returned to the magazine, then renamed "Field and Stream," after World War II. In addition to writing many magazine articles about sporting art, Schaldach wrote and illustrated a number of books, including "Fish by Schaldach," "Currents and Eddies," "Coverts and Casts," "Upland Gunning," and "Path to Enchantment: An Artist in the Sonora Desert, a book about his own paintings of the Sonora Desert that he completed between 1948 and 1956. He was also the author of a biography of the well-known wildlife artist, Carl Rungius.

Schaldach was a member of the Society of American Etchers, the Independent Society of Printmakers, and the Salmagundi Club of New York. His work has been exhibited at the Chicago Society of Etchers, the Artists for Victory at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 1939 New York World's Fair, the National Academy of Design, the American Watercolor Society in New York, and in numerous other galleries and museums throughout the country.

No other artist was more consistent in capturing leaping trout in action, especially in the difficult medium of watercolor.

Condition

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