Henrietta Marshall Latham Dwig (1840-1909) Early California Watercolorist by Frank Goss *Sullivan Goss seeks to acquire works by this Artist

Although Henrietta Latham Dwig

Table of Contents

• I. BIOGRAPHY
• II. AN ANALYSIS OF THE ARTIST'S WORK
• III. CATALOGUE
• IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• V. FIRST MAJOR EXHIBITION IN 100 YEARS
• VI. WORKS BY THIS ARTIST

I. BIOGRAPHY

Henrietta Marshall was born to Charles Manchester Marshall of England and Henrietta Cole of Kentucky on October 21, 1840 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The date of her arrival in California is unknown. However, on November 27, 1860, she was in Oakland, California, when at the age of twenty she married James Hoge Latham of Columbus, Ohio. Latham's brother was Milton S. Latham, California's sixth governor and a prominent California senator. Milton S. Latham came to California in 1850, shortly after the Gold Rush began, and made his fortune before he was thirty. It may be that his brother James came to California with him in 1850.

James & Henrietta (Marshall) Latham had three children: Charles in September 1861, Milton in January 1863, and a daughter Edith, who was born in Virginia City, Nevada in October 1866. Their daughter's birth in Virginia City, an important mining town, may indicate an involvement in Gold Rush activities. James Latham died aboard a ship in June 1876, widowing Henrietta and leaving her with children aged 10, 13 and 15. Sometime before 1882 she married a Mr. Dwight, about whom little is known. As Henrietta Latham Dwight, she purchased Thrulow Lodge, an impressive fifty-room mansion in Menlo Park built by Milton S. Latham (her former brother-in-law) while he was at the height of his success.

By the artist's dates on watercolors in the Sullivan Goss collection we know that Dwight was in San Francisco and Santa Barbara in 1890 and 1891. We also believe that sometime after 1906 she resided in Paris, France. Her works are signed variously as Henrietta Latham Dwight or initials HLD, or monograms with HMD, for Henrietta Milton Dwight. She died in Paris, France on February 6, 1909 and was buried in Oakland, California in September 1910.

II. AN ANALYSIS OF THE ARTIST'S WORK

The twenty-five known watercolors can be grouped into four locales: Santa Barbara, San Francisco, unknown locations (two scenes), and Paris.

It would seem likely that Dwight would have received her training in either California or France. It may be that she received some training in both locations. All of these watercolors show a trained hand working in a professional style. The watercolors in this collection are dated so early in the development of California watercolorists that Dwight could only have been influenced in San Francisco by either Christian Jorgensen (1860-1935) or Lorenzo Latimer (1857-1941). Although the Englishman John Evey (1842-1910) was teaching at this time, his classes were confined to Los Angeles and there is no record of her ever having been that far south in California. Both Jorgensen and Latimer taught at the San Francisco School of Design in the 1880s. Jorgenson conducted classes in San Francisco and across the bay in Oakland, where it is thought that Dwight lived.

However, Dwight's work is significantly different from each of these younger influential male artists. The composition of her work in California is always focused on a single subject surrounded by an atmospheric setting: a lone boat, an individual rock outcropping, a solitary adobe, a sentinel tree. This is markedly different from the lush, complex and dense compositions of Jorgensen and Latimer. Dwight's later work, the Parisian pieces, demonstrate a much more developed style: every part of the surface is planned and covered with compositional values.

Alfred Harrison, Jr. of North Point Gallery in San Francisco is the leading authority on California watercolorists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is his opinion that Dwight's California work shows the influence of Christian Jorgensen as her teacher. He remarked that her attention to architectural details is reminiscent of Jorgensen's work as an architectural draftsman, an influence commonly seen in his watercolors of missions. Jorgenson was fond of the panoramic view that Dwight used in her Rise at East Beach and Boat on Blocks. Harrison also found similarities with Jorgensen's work in Dwight's depiction of sky and water elements. Reviewing his archives, Harrison located a copy of the San Francisco Evening Post, May 25, 1891 (page 4, col. 3) which reads as follows:

"Chris Jorgenson, the leading water colorist, will leave on Sunday for Santa Barbara, where he will spend the month of June sketching. He will be accompanied by his San Francisco and Oakland classes, numbering about twenty."

It may be that Dwight was one of the twenty. She was married in Oakland and after her death she was buried there. Perhaps she was a member of his Oakland class. If she was in this session it would explain the 1891 dating on many of her Santa Barbara watercolors. The signature and date on the Sailboat in Marsh which is detailed above and difficult to read, may be dated "Jun. 1891."

III. CATALOGUE

In the event that you have works by this artist which you would like included in this catalogue, contact Sullivan Goss for submission requirements. The catalogue, (or The Works of Henrietta Latham Dwight) is being assembled as part of this page. The catalogue will include paintings in oil, watercolors, and other media.

Part of the difficulty in gathering material for a catalogue of Dwight's work is in her name and signature. At various times in her career she could have been known, or her work signed, as : a) Henrietta Marshall; b) Henrietta M. Latham; c) Henrietta Marshall Latham; d) Henrietta M. Latham Dwight; e) Henrietta Latham Dwight; f) Henrietta L. Dwight, g) HLD; and h) HMD. Some of her works are signed, some initialled, some dated, and some have notes in the artist's hand on the back of the work.

In comparison with the initials "HLD" (discussed above), the "HMD" shows heavier pressure on the pencil, the letters are slanted to the left instead of the right, and the block style is very different from the initialled format. In most cases this monogram is applied to the verso of the watercolor, either upper or lower left.

In all cases except one the initials are applied to the front of the watercolor and the monogram is applied to the back, perhaps indicating that the monogram was applied at a later date. However, in the exception Sailboat in Marsh (digitally enhanced detail below) the initials, monogram, and a date are all on the face of the watercolor in the lower right corner.

There are only twenty-six known works by Henrietta Latham Dwight, twenty-five in the Sullivan Goss collection and an oil painting exhibited by the Society of California Pioneers in 1959. The watercolors are all on professional watercolor paper. Some of the California works are on countermarked "J. Whatman" paper with a date of 1890 imbedded in the paper. Others are marked 1891 and show a "B" near the Whatman name. Only two of the Parisian scenes have watermarks. Both of these are Whatman paper and marked 1906.

IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. 1. Hughes, Edan Milton. Artists in California, 1786-1940, II, p. 325. San Francisco: Hughes Publishing Company, 1989.
2. 2. U.S. Census, Birth Date, Marriage Dates, Children, Death Date. Accessed through RootsWeb.com
3. 3. Sivo, Brooke. Market Report, Butterfields Magazine, p. 3. Butterfields, December 2000).
4. 4. Dwight, Henrietta Latham. The Golden Age Cook-Book. New York: Alliance Publishing, 1898. 178 pp.
5. 5. McClelland, Gordon T. and Jay T. Last, California Watercolors: 1850-1970. Santa Ana, CA: Hillcrest Press, 2002. 229 pp.
6. 6. Harrison, Alfred, et al. The Legacy of Percy Grey. Carmel, CA: Carmel Art Association, 1998, 184 pp.
7. 7. San Francisco Evening Post. "Chris Jorgensen..." May 25, 1891, page 4, column 3. From the archives of Alfred Harrison, Jr.