Seis - Walter - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

No one who knew Walt Seis, the artist, when here, will ever forget him.  He is a man of undoubted talent, whose genius for art is as exceptionally great as his business sense is exceptionally small. In fact, Seis, who might be a rich man, has no business faculty at all.  He has painted pictures worth considerable sums which he gives away as fast and as freely as if he were a Vanderbilt to whom money was no object whatever; and yet at the time he probably wears a coat which is a thing of “shreds” and patched and has grave doubts (if light-hearted Walter ever is really “grave” where he will get his next meal.

The future has no mortgage on Walter. If he has a dollar and no poor fellow asks him for it, in which case it is as freely given as if he had a million more beside it, he will, like as not, take his boy to the opera, filled with present pleasure and entirely unmindful of care. He doesn’t borrow trouble. He hasn’t any false pride. He will paint you a picture which has genius in it, but if you havne’t a wish for a icture he will paint a sign over your store and in neither case will he charge you near what it is worth. A full grown man in talent, he is a little child in the ways of the world.  He had Thoreau’s intense love of communion with nature and it is in painting natural scenery that he excels. He has sketched all over the US for he has been a life long roamer. When he left here he went with his little family in a house boat. For several years he has made Paducah, KY his headquarters. Two or three boats have been lost in the floods but he has at last by slowly accumulating the timber and doing the work himself with the assistance of his boy, Gus, built a new one of which he is very proud. In a recent letter to Mr. SR Baker whom he calls, “Dear Old Pard,” he says: I have had what the boys call a picnic since I last wrote. I held onto the Gypsy as long as I could; then live don the Arab. When that went down I had the new one ready or nearly so as to move into. She is a daisy. Her name is the Gypsy Queen, 11 x 48 in hull, 15 x 30 over al, out of hard, clean yellow pine. When all complete will be worth $700 or $800. So you see I have not worked and saved (laid out on her) for the last two years for it has been that long since her first timbers went down for nothing. We moved in last spring and we (Gus and me) have deprived ourselves of everything for the sake of our beautiful boat!

The Paducah Carnegie Public Library has received a handsome painting of the steamer Rosa Lee, built on the old Henry Murray Boat Yard above Island Creek more than 60 years ago. The painting, done in oils by Walter Seis is the gift of Mrs. Oscar Hank and will hang on the walls of the east reading room, where the original manuscript of Irvin Cobb’s Exit Laughing and other historical items repose.  

Other citizens recall the Rosa Lee with affection. She plied the packet business for many years between Memphis and Caruthersville, Mo and belonged to the Lee Line, which operated a string of boats in the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. For many years the painting was one of two which decorated the office of the late Oscar Hank. The other painting represented the steamer Dick Fowler in midstream and was given to Irvin S. Cobb when the latter visited Mr. Hank’s office 13 years ago. It, too,  was executed by Walter Seis, a paint and brush artist of Paducah whose work attracted wide notice. The Rosa Lee reproduction is 3 by 4 ‘ in size. It is encased in a heavy frame and is a valuable addition to the library’s art gallery.

“advertisement” – A nice line of painted panes (by Walter Seis) just received. Come early for choice… Probst & Fisbeck

Walter Seis is expected in a few days a complete Kenyon  Steroscopic view outfit and will immeiatley after start out to take some views. He says this state is full of beautiful scenery. Before long he expects to go to the Shades of Death with an artistic party and remain a week sketching and taking views.

Terre Haute has a landscape and scenic painter who should be appreciated and encouraged. His name is Walter Seis. A number of the productions of his facile brush have been on public exhibition. They show manifestations of artistic talent and aesthetic taste and give promise of a brilliant future for the unpretending and laborious artist who producd them.  In Button's windows are now to be seen two of his pieces - one representing a jutting precipice of stone in the foreground; in the middle distance a lake; and far away a range of ountains. The effect is excellent. The other painting represents the far-famed YoSemite falls. This is a triumph of the painter's art and will bear critical study.  Many less meritorioius productions have sold for high prices.  Our wealthy people out to patronize Mr. Sis, for he deservesit. "Encourage the beautiful: the useful will take care of itself."

Mrs. Walter Seis has gone to Thorntown, Ind to visit her father.

Walter Seis, the artist, has taken his family on board the little boat he has been building and will soon start up the river where he will spend most of the summer taking views. The trip will be a delightful one and is an excellent way to spend the heated term.

Ticket No. 30 drew Walter Seis’ picture, “Sunshine and Shadow,” and the owner is requested to come and claim property.

Walter Seis, the artist, is again in the city. He is at present engaged on work for Mr. H. Hulman.

Walter Seis, the artist, formerly a well known resident here, but who for some time past has been living in Paducah, Ky is here for a few days and may possible (re) locate.

Walter Seis, our old artist, appears to have drifted back to Terre Haute. The Express says: “In the elegant salesroom of the new Hulman grocery house at the foot of the stairs, has been a blank space of white wall, probably reserved until some happy thought should suggest an appropriate and handsome decoration. The thought has come and Walter Seis the artist has put it on a canvas to fill that inviting space. Mr. Hulman’s recollections of Mexico, a few photographs, Mr. Seis’ knowledge of southwestern scenery and facile brush appear in a beautiful and realistic picture of a Mexican coffee plantation, a painting 12x15’ in area, none too large for the view of Mexican plateaus and mountain ranges in the foreground to which appears the coffee plantation. With the license allowed a painter, Mr. Seis presents the most characteristic and picturesque Mexican scenery with its grandest mountains, in a truly beautiful scene. From a fringe of tropical plants at the extreme front the country rises to a wall of mountains and above tower the lofty peaks of snow shrouded Orizaba, Iztaccihuatl and Toluca. Iztaccihuatl, or the White Woman, shows on its summit a full length recumebent figure, the perfect image of a woman dropped in white.

Source:  The drawing for Walter Seis’ sperb picture “Sunshine and Shadow” on exhibition at the postoffice will occur on the 5th of May, whether all the small pictures are sold or not.  Those who have selected pictures must call and pay for them, else the numbers will not be represented in the drawing.

Source: Terre Haute Sat. Eve Mail 8 July 1882 – Among our people now at Lake Mills, Wisconsin are: SR Baker, WALTER SEIS, Fred Elkin …

Walter Seis, the artist, came home from Lake Mills this week. He thinks it a charming spot. He made a number of sketches, which he will put on canvas.