Catherine Altvater

Background

She was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1907.

Career

Her watercolor paintings hang in the Museum of Modern Art and many other museums. Altvater was the first woman to hold office in the American Watercolor Society. She lived in the Hudson River Valley, New York and Long Island, New York most of her professional life.

Altvater was best known for her colorful floral still-life paintings (White Lilies in the Rain, Hymn to the Sun), landscapes (Golden Dawn), and architectural scenes.

Altvater’s work was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Academy of Fine Arts, National Arts Club, Audubon Artists Royal Watercolor Society (London), Parrish Museum (New York), and the Mexico City Museum of Artist Her paintings were included in the American Watercolor Society’s traveling exhibitions.

She founded the Mid-Southern Watercolorists in Little Rock in 1970, with artists Doris Williamson Mapes, Bruce R. Anderson, Josephine Graham, and Edwin C. Brewer. She lived outside of Scott, Arkansas in Lonoke County for ten years.

She retired to New Smyrna Beach, Florida and died there October 9, 1984.

Achievements

• Altvater painted in both watercolor and oils and, from 1947 through 1967, won more than fifty awards, including first prize in watercolors at the National Arts Club in New York for 1969.