William H. Machen
William Henry Machen (February 10, 1832 – June 19, 1911), was a painter and teacher.
William Henry Machen was born in Arnhem, Holland. He was the oldest son of Augustine Ulysses Machen, a government-employed civil engineer, and Agatha Kuyke of Werkendam, Holland. His upfront education was by tutors. He also traditional art guidance from his uncle, C. W. Kuyke, a portrait painter in Arnhem.
In 1847 Augustine, Agatha, son William, along subsequently his four brothers and two sisters sailed from Rotterdam for America. Two sisters died en route and were buried at sea. The surviving family members arrived in New York in September. From there they made their way via the Hudson River to Albany, via the Erie Canal to Buffalo, and finally across Lake Erie to Cleveland, where they stayed for the winter.
At the instruction of Bishop Amadeus Rappe of Cleveland, Augustine and teenager William traveled on horseback to Toledo in February 1848 to inspect a 100-acre (0.40 km2) farm at the town‘s edge. They soon purchased the house and in April the family granted in Toledo. Augustine’s brother, Henry P.L. Machen, and his wife, Wilhelmina, and their kids also arrived and settled upon the same land.
The farm setting gave William acceptable subjects for his paintings—landscapes, game birds, animals, rivers and streams. He next painted portraits, religious subjects, still life, and local scenery. Most of his appear in was oil, but after that water color, pencil sketches, and some pen and ink. Architectural design was not on summit of his talents.
In 1861 William married Mary Ann Short of Buffalo, New York. Together they had six sons and three daughters. Their oldest son forward-thinking became Assistant Postmaster General. Another son became a prominent Washington physician.
He exhibited his play-act at the Pennsylvania Academy, the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and the Detroit Museum of Art.
But, although art was his profession, he was plus an skilled musician and composer. He served as organist and choir director for St. Francis de Sales church in Toledo for several years. He and his younger brother August moreover played in a local band.
He was gifted in extra ways too. He was a naturalist by inclination and studied extensively in that area. He plus was fluent in six languages, frequently serving as an interpreter.
In 1882 William and his family moved to Detroit, where he taught art at Detroit College (later University of Detroit) and Sacred Heart Convent at Grosse Pointe. He continued his prolific art work, including portraits, religious subjects, and a variety of others.
The artist and his intimates remained in Detroit for 12 years. He eventually moved to Washington, D.C. in 1894. There he continued his painting, completing many portraits, still life, and scenes of nature.
He was a devout lifelong Catholic. He died in Washington in 1911 at age 79. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Toledo.
In his lifetime William Machen completed more than 2700 oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sketches. He maintained a single register of his works which is now preserved in the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Peter Falk, "Who Was Who in American Art"