Olaf C. Seltzer (August 27, 1877 - December 16, 1957) was a Danish-born American painter and illustrator from

Great Falls, Montana Great Falls is the List of cities and towns in Montana, third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 United States census, 2 ...

. He did over 2,500 paintings and illustrations of the American West, including cowboys.

Early life

Seltzer was born on August 27, 1877, in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark. He emigrated to the United States with his mother after his father died, and settled in Great Falls, where his uncle lived. He did not speak English when he arrived.

Career

Seltzer worked as a machinist for the Great Northern Railway. In 1897, he began painting alongside Charles M. Russell. Seltzer decided to paint independently from 1921 onward. He worked as an illustrator for '' The New York Tribune'' in 1934, and he exhibited his work in Seattle in 1936. He did 275 paintings for physician Philip G. Cole. He did over 2,500 paintings and illustrations over the course of his career. Seltzer did both

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

and

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

s, and he depicted life in the American West, including animals, cowboys and historical events. He also painted pioneers like

Meriwether Lewis Meriwether Lewis (August 18, 1774 – October 11, 1809) was an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator, best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with ...

and

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Misso ...

. Seltzer did a painting for the Grand Masonic Library in

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer * Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places Places Greece * Helena ...

. President

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

received one of his paintings as a gift on his 1950 visit to Montana. His work was exhibited at the

Gilcrease Museum Gilcrease Museum, also known as the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, is a museum northwest of downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma housing the world's largest, most comprehensive collection of art of the American West, as well as a gr ...

in Oklahoma in 1957.

Personal life, death and legacy

Seltzer married Mabel L. Cleeland in 1903. They had two sons, Carl and Walter, and they resided in Great Falls. Seltzer died on December 16, 1957, in Great Falls, Montana. Some of his work is in the permanent collection of the

C. M. Russell Museum Complex C. M. Russell Museum Complex is an art museum located in the city of Great Falls, Montana, in the United States. The museum's primary function is to display the artwork of Great Falls "cowboy artist" Charles Marion Russell, for whom the museum ...

in Great Falls, the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, the Gilcrease Museum in Oklahoma, and the

Tacoma Art Museum The Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) is an art museum in Tacoma, Washington, United States. It focuses primarily on the art and artists from the Pacific Northwest and broader western region of the U.S. Founded in 1935, the museum has strong roots in the ...

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

. His papers are at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

. His grandson, Steve Seltzer, is a painter.

Works

References

External links

Olaf Carl Seltzer
on the American Art Collaborative
Olaf Carl Seltzer
on Find a Grave {{DEFAULTSORT:Seltzer, Olaf C. 1877 births 1957 deaths Danish emigrants to the United States People from Great Falls, Montana 20th-century American painters American male painters American magazine illustrators Artists from Montana Artists of the American West 20th-century American male artists