Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 11

Rachel Bentley
Methodist Church in Old Bodie Ghost Town - California - Watercolor on Paper

mid 20th Century

About the Item

Methodist Church in Bodie California - Watercolor on Paper Delightful watercolor by California artist Rachel Bentley (American, 1894-1991). The scene depicts the Methodist Church in Bodie, California, which was built in 1882. Bodie State Historic Park is a genuine California gold-mining ghost town. The church sits at the bottom of the hill, with other structures slightly elevated in the background. The sky is bright blue with puffy clouds. The piece is bright and fully saturated, demonstrating Bentley's mastery of the medium. Frame size: 15.75"H x 19.75"W Image size: 9.5"H x 13.5"W Rachel Bentley (American, 1894-1991) was born in Stoughton, Wisconsin, but spent the majority of her life in California. She learned the art of watercolor at the Palo Alto Arts Club and from studying with Edward Farmer, Ralph Ledesma, and William Montel. Bentley exhibited throughout California, and was a member of the Allied Arts Guild of Menlo Park. Bentley gained widespread recognition as a watercolor artist in 1954 when 100 of her one-and two-room country schoolhouses were exhibited at the California State Fair. Earlier that year, Rachel came up with the idea of making a collection of these "little halls of learning.” At that time, little red schoolhouses were rapidly disappearing from the American landscape--and for the first time, the National Park Service was asked to declare a school (in Wakefield, New Hampshire) a registered national historic landmark. Her unique collection has been displayed countless times since in galleries, libraries, universities, by historical societies and museums, and at art festivals. Many of the schools she captured by paintbrush are now gone. Around 1957, Rachel was commissioned to paint over 50 views of early Menlo Park and Atherton. For this project, she worked from photographs. Bay Area historian Susan Gale presented 25 of the watercolor paintings to the City of Menlo Park to form a permanent exhibit in the civic center. They also have appeared in numerous publications and been used for lectures on local history. Under the Oaks: Two Hundred Years in Atherton, a book written in 2009 by Pamela Guillard and Nancy Lund, features several of them, including Linden Towers, the "Wedding Cake" mansion of silver baron James C. Flood. From 1956 to 1961, assignments from the Ford Times travel magazine sent Rachel to the mining towns of California and Nevada. Her paintings of ruins left behind from the Gold Rush and Comstock Lode were featured in a traveling art exhibit sponsored by Ford that went around the world and became a permanent piece of the Ford Times Collection of American Art. In 1991, Rachel's family donated over 80 of her original schoolhouse watercolors to the San Mateo County Office of Education in Redwood City, where the paintings continue to be displayed throughout the building. Twenty-four schoolhouses are on public exhibit in the Rachel Bentley Gallery there. Her painting of the Carmel Mission (San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Mission) and two schoolhouses were donated to the Oakland Museum for its California Collection.
  • Creator:
    Rachel Bentley (1894 - 1991, American)
  • Creation Year:
    mid 20th Century
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 15.75 in (40.01 cm)Width: 19.75 in (50.17 cm)Depth: 0.75 in (1.91 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Artwork is in good condition. Frame is rustic and has scratches and paint loss, we will touch up but frame is included as-is.
  • Gallery Location:
    Soquel, CA
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: DBH76021stDibs: LU54211496322

More From This Seller

View All
California Seascape, Botanical Study - Double Sided Mid Century Watercolor
By Doris Warner
Located in Soquel, CA
Double-sided mid century watercolor of Pleasure Point Cove, Monterey Bay by listed artist Doris Ann Warner (American, 1925-2010). On verso is a beautiful botanical watercolor study....
Category

1960s American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Monterey Wharf - Figurative Landscape
By Stephen John Skerce
Located in Soquel, CA
Detailed figurative watercolor landscape the Monterey Wharf with figures and boats by Stephen John Skerce (American, 1926-2010). Presented in a wooden frame. Signed "Skerce" lower le...
Category

1980s American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Island in the San Francisco Bay, Mid Century Landscape by Alexander Nepote
By Alexander Nepote
Located in Soquel, CA
Mid Century Island in the San Francisco Bay Landscape by Alexander Nepote Lovely late 1930's Impressionist watercolor of a Bay Area island by listed California artist Alexander Nepo...
Category

1930s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Edge of the Lake Landscape
Located in Soquel, CA
Gorgeous landscape of the edge of a lake with mountains in the background by a California watercolor artist.. Signed in pencil in the lowe...
Category

1980s American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Waves Crashing on the Rocks Landscape
By Joseph Yeager
Located in Soquel, CA
Dynamic and energetic watercolor of waves crashing into coastal rocks by Joe Yeager (American, 20th Century). Signed in the lower right corner by the ar...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

1890s Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, Carmel Landscape
By George Hamilton Brodhead
Located in Soquel, CA
Late 19th century watercolor of the Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo, in Carmel CA, by George H. Brodhead (American, b. 1860). Signed "G.H. Brodhead" ...
Category

1890s American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

You May Also Like

Rocks and Sea
By Robert Swain Gifford
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Born on a small island near Martha's Vineyard, R. Swain Gifford and his family moved to the New Bedford, Massachusetts, area when he was two years old. The Dutch marine painter Alber...
Category

Late 19th Century American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Mother and Children watercolor painting by John E. Costigan
By John Costigan
Located in Hudson, NY
Painting measures 22" x 28" and framed 26" x 32" x 2" Hand-signed "J.E. Costigan NA 1952" lower left. About this artist: John Costigan was a self-taught painter distinguished by h...
Category

Mid-20th Century American Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

Watercolor of the Oak Tree by Allen Tucker
By Allen Tucker
Located in Hudson, NY
Landscape watercolor by Allen Tucker of an oak tree. This piece, along with several others, was gifted to Una Brage, a friend of the artist in the 1930s. More about this artist: Allen Tucker, was an architect and painter so influenced by Vincent Van Gogh that he was called "Vincent in America". (Gerdts 291) Robert Henri and Maurice Prendergast were also credited as having an influence on Tucker's brushwork and compositions, the latter decisively. However, as his painting evolved, he did not fit into any tidy slot for description and was known as an individualist not easily categorized in American art history. Tucker was born in Brooklyn in 1866 and graduated from the School of Mines of Columbia University with a degree in architecture and took a job as an architectural draftsman in the architectural firm of McIvaine and Tucker, his fathers business. During that time, he studied painting at the Art Students League with Impressionist John H. Twachtman, but it was not until around 1904, when he was 38, that Tucker became a full-time painter, leaving architecture behind. Many of his early canvases were classically Impressionistic with poplar trees resembling those of Van Gogh and haystacks and corn shocks...
Category

Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Waterco...

Materials

Paper, Watercolor

"Untitled 1, " Watercolor Painting
Located in Denver, CO
Clyde Steadman's "Untitled 1" is an original, handmade watercolor painting that depicts an urban landscape with human silhouettes.
Category

2010s American Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Paper

59th Street Bridge, Pennsylvania Impressionist Watercolor Cityscape
By Walter Emerson Baum
Located in Doylestown, PA
"59th Street Bridge" is a 22" x 30" watercolor on paper cityscape of the Brooklyn Bridge and city skyline, painted by Pennsylvania Impressionist and...
Category

1940s American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Watercolor, Archival Paper

An Old Military Road, The Road over Dovrefjell, Norway
By Carl Oscar Borg
Located in Stockholm, SE
Carl Oscar Borg (1879–1947) An Old Military Road, The Road over Dovrefjell, Norway gouache on paper, ca. 1900 signed sheet 12.5 cm x 17.5 (4.9 x 6.9 in) framed 23 × 28 cm (9 × 11...
Category

1890s American Impressionist Mixed Media

Materials

Paper, Gouache

Recently Viewed

View All