George J. Seideneck

George J. Seideneck (February 4, 1885 – March 7, 1972), was an American painter best known for his portraits and landscapes, as well as his role in the early development of the Carmel Art Association in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Both he and his wife, Catherine Comstock, were accomplished painters. Seideneck's artwork has been exhibited nationally and is part of the permanent collections at the Trotter Museum-Gallery, Monterey Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Art.
==Early life and education==
Seideneck was born on February 4, 1885, in Chicago, Illinois of Czechoslovakian descent. He went to the local high school and upon graduation he became an apprentice wood engraver, carving woodblocks. As a youth he specialized in drawing boats on the Illinois lakes.
In 1903, Seideneck studied for two years at Chicago's Smith Art Academy. He continued his studies at the Chicago Art Institute. During this time, he shared a studio-apartment for six years alongside muralist Eugene Savage. 
His first marriage was to Lola E. Stouder on April 14 1909, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She died on July 13, 1910 at Lake Wawasee in Indiana due to appendicitis.
==Career== 
Around 1905, Seideneck began his career as a portrait painter and fashion illustrator specializing in boys’ and men’s wear. After about six years in the commercial art field, he traveled to Europe in 1911 to further his studies and and painting under guidance of painter and teacher William Victor Higgins. The first year was spent with studies in St Ives, a seaport town at Cornwall, England. There, he received instruction from the Canadian painter and educator Harry Britton, and developed skills in portraiture. He also delved into landscape painting and utilized his camera to capture scenes for future reference in his artwork. He exhibited with the St Ives painters at their Show Day in March, 1912.
Seideneck then traveled to Paris, where he helped establish the American Art Club with a small group of Chicago artists. He also visited Venice and Austria. By the autumn of 1912, he had enrolled in the Royal Academy in Munich, studying under Walter Thor and Carl von Marr. He exhibited more than thirty paintings at the Kunstverein München, one of the oldest German art associations. 
In late 1913, he returned to Europe and in the subsequent spring he became the General European Representative for the Meyer-Both Company, a large fashion advertising house, where he opened new offices in London and Paris. In 1914, he retured to Chicago, where he taught composition, life drawing, and portrait painting at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts from 1914-1917. He became a member of several Chicago clubs, including the Chicago Society of Artists and the Palette and Chisel Club.
His initial trip to the West Coast was in 1915 to take part in the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. In March of 1918, Seideneck came to the art colony at Carmel-by-the-Sea, California on a sketching trip where he met artist Jo Mora. By June of that year, he exhibited several paintings in the office of the Carmel Pine Cone.
In July 1918, Seideneck performed alongside John N. Hilliard, Theodore Criley, and others at the Forest Theater in W. S. Gilbert's play Pygmalion and Galatea. In March 1919 he was chosen as the secretary of the Forest Theatre Society and helped with the construction of the sets for the amphitheater. In May 1919, Seideneck was elected as a director of the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club. He was also involved in the administration of the Arts and Crafts Theatre.
Seideneck married Catherine Comstock (1885-1967) in Santa Rosa, California on January 25, 1921. She was a landscape painter and worked with leather crafts. Her brother was designer and master builder Hugh W. Comstock (1893-1950). In 1922, the couple established a Carmel home situated on the corner of Monte Verde and 8th Avenue. They had a studio on Ocean Avenue. Seideneck served as a resident artist for the coastal botanical laboratories of the Carnegie Institution in Carmel, creating botanical drawings under the direction of William Cannon.
Between 1919 and 1922, Seideneck participated in the yearly exhibitions of the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club. In the spring of 1921, he showcased portrait sketches and numerous landscapes alongside his wife in a combined exhibition at the Arts & Crafts Hall. Later that June, he displayed seven canvases, featuring portraits, at the Carmel Artists exhibition held in the Stanford University Art Gallery.
In the early 1920s, the Seidenecks undertook the restoration of several historic homes in Carmel. In 1922, they decorated Philip and Marie Gordon's "Casa Del Mar Azul" house with new furnishing, wrought iron grilles, ralings, and light fixtures. With the earnings from this endeavor, they embarked on a two-and-a-half-year journey to Europe in 1924, where they spent their time painting and traveling in Germany and Italy. They came back to Carmel in January 1927.
In March 1927 Seideneck was interviewed by Alice de Nair for the Pine Cone, where Seideneck talked about his start in Chicago, his travels, and about the portrait of the fisherman, and portrait of Judge William Henry Seaman of the United States Court of Appeals in Chicago, which now is in the United States courts of appeals in the Federal Building in Chicago.
===Carmel Art Association===
George and Catherine have been recognized for their involvement in establishing the Carmel Art Association (CAA) and its first gallery. The Association held its formal opening and first exhibition on October 15, 1927 at the Seven Arts Building at Ocean Avenue in downtown Carmel. Seideneck exhibited two oils paintings, On the Giudecca and Italian Hillside. His wife displayed two pastel sketches. In December 1927, for the “Thumb Box Sketches” exhibition at the CAA, Seideneck submitted a portrait titled Cornish Fisherman. On June 3, 1928, at the CAA exhibition at the Stanford Art Gallery Seideneck showed his work "Italian Peasant".
As a charter member of the CAA, Seideneck was elected as the second president on August 13, 1928. He served on the executive board in 1927, from 1930 to 1932, and again from 1942 to 1950. In January of 1959, Seideneck was awarded a lifetime membership to the CAA. Seideneck also co-founded the Carmel Music Society and served as a director for the organization. 
Seideneck's painting, The Old Philosopher, completed in 1913, was first exhibited at the CAA member's exhibition held at the Stanford Gallery in 1929. Selected as one of the top thirty-five paintings, it was featured in a touring exhibition, making stops at the Oakland Art Gallery and the East-West Gallery. Seideneck also exhibited "The Old Philosopher" in 1932 at the CAA's Sixteenth Exhibition.
In the June 1931, at the CAA's Fourteenth Carmel Art Association, he exhibited his "Italian Peasant." In November 1931, his painting of the Cornish Fishermen alongside various sketches of boats appeared at the Fifteenth CAA Exhibition. That same year, he exhibited his boat sketches in the Thumb Box Sketches exhibition at Josephine M. Culbertson's Gray Gables. 
 
===Beyond Carmel-by-the-Sea===
Outside the Monterey Peninsula, Seideneck exhibited his work at different locations. In 1927, he displayed his work at the East-West Gallery in San Francisco and participated in the California State Fair in 1929 and 1933. By 1935, he joined the Monterey History and Art Association, where he was appointed to its board of directors. 
By 1929, the Seidenecks had purchased property in Carmel Valley and constructed a home with a view of Pinyon Peak and having a hillside orchard.
in 1935, as part of the federally sponsored SERA project, the Seidenecks created murals at Presidio of Monterey and at Carmel’s Sunset School. Their initial commission at the Sunset School was titled Fishing Boats at St. Ives.
Sponsored by the WPA Federal Art Project, Seideneck made watercolor sketches of early-American artifacts for the Index of American Design exhibit, showcased in June 1937 at the Federal Art Gallery in Carmel. Thelma Miller, a critic for the Pine Cone, made positive comments about his artworks.
In 1945, Seideneck captured images of Cannery Row and Monterey Fishing, featuring the California Packing Corporation plant 101. Additionally, he photographed Carmel, the Hatton and Berta Ranches in Carmel Valley, and the Big Sur Coast.
During the autumn of 1949, at the Tenth Annual Exhibition of Art, with 58 paintings and held at San Francisco's De Young Museum by the Society of Western Artists, Seideneck was granted the Anna Elizabeth Klumpke Award, valued at 250 dollars (Inflation|US|250|1949|fmt=eq). This award was bestowed for the best figure or portrait painting, recognizing his canvas titled Cornish Fisherman.
In July 1966, the Seidenecks were recognized with a joint retrospective exhibition, supported by the Monterey Peninsula chapter of the American Federation of Arts at the Monterey Museum of Art.
==Death and legacy==
Seideneck died on March 7, 1972, at a Monterey convalescent hospital after a long illness. His artwork can be found in the permanent collections of the Trotter Museum-Gallery, Monterey Museum of Art, and the National Gallery of Art. 
==See also==
* Timeline of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Category:1885 births
Category:People from Chicago
Category:1972 deaths
Category:American painters