Russell Chatham was a painter, printmaker, author, fly fisher, and rugged outdoorsman. His moody landscapes are reminiscent of those of the Tonalist painters of the early 20th century, focusing on moments of changing light and weather to explore the spiritual qualities of a place. He was also a highly skilled lithographer, producing full colored prints that frequently utilized upwards of fifteen plates to achieve his desired effects.
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Chatham was born in San Francisco, California, and grew up in Pacific Heights and San Anselmo. His family-owned Loop Lumber, and after he graduated high school, he went to work for the business. Chatham was a self-taught artist and, like his grandfather, Gottardo Piazzoni, began painting murals. At 19, he married Doris Clark, who helped him secure a teaching job at Dominican College. He divorced Clark and married Mary Fanning and they moved steadily west, settling in Paradise Valley in 1972. Chatham earned a living as a sign painter and freelance writer for Sports Illustrated and Gray’s Sporting Journal. He also invented his own fly for fishing, the Black Phantom, with which he caught the largest striped bass on record at the time.
He eventually settled in Livingston, Montana and married his third wife, Suzanne Porter, in 1986. They later divorced. Montana proved the ideal home for his interests as an outdoorsman and artist, and his paintings were soon selling out of his Livingston gallery for hundreds of thousands of dollars, with large canvases exceeding one million dollars. His art was popular with celebrities including Tom Brokaw, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson, Harrison Ford, Warren Beatty, and Jessica Lange, and at the time of his death he had exhibited in more than 400 solo shows. Chatham lost his fortune in the 2008 recession, having invested heavily in real estate at the advice of his wealthy friends and collectors. He retired to West Marin and continued to write and paint until his death from dementia and age-related illnesses in 2019.
Junipers was acquired by the donors from a solo exhibition of Chatham’s work held at the Muskegon Museum of Art in 1989.