W.J. Schaldach was born in Elkart, Indiana, but when he was 12 the family moved to Michigan. An early interest in hunting, fishing and drawing would serve him well later in life. At 19 he had his first book of drawings published and would go on to be a skilled landscape painter, draftsman, and etcher, in addition to being an author and amateur archaeologist. During World War I Schaldach served in the U.S. Navy, followed by study under George Bridgeman, Harry Wickey and John Sloan at the Art Students League in New York City. In the early 1920s, 19th century artist W.J. Schaldach lived on a farm in Connecticut and began writing and illustrating for Forest and Stream (now Field and Stream) magazine. He became associate editor in 1930, a position he held until just before World War II, and then returning to the magazine again after the war. At the invitation of Ray Strang, Schaldach visited Strang’s Tucson, Arizona ranch in 1937, where he developed a love of the Sonora desert. He visited the Mexican border town of Sasabe, Arizona for years before permanently moving to nearby Tubac in 1956. Schaldack wrote a number of books on hunting and fishing that he also illustrated. Oakland Tribune wrote in 1938 regarding Schaldach’s book, Fish by Schaldach, that he “is to wild life what Toscanini is to music. They both have what it takes to give an interpretation of their arts as they see them, yet delivering their own eminently authoritative arrangements.” The book contained an introduction by Gifford Pinchot. In 1944, The Salt Lake Tribune said of Schaldach’s book, Coverts and Casts, “One need have no piscatory interests, however, nor have ever carried a gun, to enjoy the book, for Mr. Schaldach has a pleasant, and lively style and the original sketches with which he adorns the work, with also a few fine color plates, are worth the price without the text.” Schaldach was a member of the Society of American Etchers, the Salmagundi Club and the Independent Society of Printmakers. He exhibited at the National Academy of Design, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Chicago Society of Etchers, the Artists for Victory at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, the 1939 New York World's Fair and the American Watercolor Society.

Call now to talk about your interest in this W.J. Schaldach painting: 724-459-0612

Jerry Hawk, Bedford Fine Art Gallery