Fred Machetanz

Fred Machetanz (February 20, 1908 – October 6, 2002) was an Alaskan painter and illustrator who specialized in depictions of Alaskan scenes, people and wildlife. He first came to the territory in 1935, when he traveled to Unalakleet to visit his uncle, Charles Traeger, who ran a trading broadcast there and spent 2 years developing a portfolio of Alaskan scenes. After rejection Alaska, he spent some epoch as an illustrator in New York, but longed to compensation to Alaska. He returned in 1942 after volunteering bearing in mind the U.S. Navy and requesting a posting to the Aleutian Islands during World War II. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and was answerable for expertise for the North Pacific Command. After the war, he trained for a sudden time at the Art Students League in New York, studying lithography under Will Barnet, and later returned to Unalakleet in 1946.

Machetanz married Sara Dunn, a writer, in 1947, and the two settled close Palmer, Alaska in 1951. They published several books together and collaborated upon films for Walt Disney, the Territory of Alaska, and Encyclopædia Britannica. They then made many promotional and lecture tours through the subjugate 48 states from 1948 through 1960. The turning reduction in Fred's painting career came upon April 21, 1962, when Bob Atwood, editor and publisher of the Anchorage Times, arranged for a one-man doing of his paintings. The works at the perform sold quickly, and the ability allowed Fred to pursue painting full-time.