Life in Wrangell captured in 139-year-old watercolor painting

As three days of cultural exchanges wrapped up in Wrangell with the departure of the visiting crew from the Polynesian Voyaging Society, another piece of Wrangell history came to light depicting Tlingit life almost 140 years ago.

In the late 1800s, artist Theodore J. Richardson painted a watercolor of a village that appears to be in the general vicinity of Reliance Harbor. A photo shows him possibly working on that watercolor while in a boat in Zimovia Strait, with Woronkofski Island in the distance.

Richardson was born in Readfield, Maine, on April 5, 1855, and grew up in Red Wing, Minnesota. He studied at Boston Normal Art School and taught for a time, according to a biography from the Hennepin County (Minnesota) Library website.

The artist, working in watercolors and pastels, visited Alaska 24 times starting in 1884, traveling to the territory during the summers after being contracted by the Smithsonian to capture Native American communities and the culture.

So far, two paintings of Wrangell by Richardson are known to exist; the aforementioned Tlingit village with totems, wooden canoes, houses and people going about their daily lives, titled "View of Wrangell, Alaska in 1884"; and one depicting a wolf totem, titled "Indian Grave. Wolf Totem over Medicine Man Grave, Wrangell."

Richardson would set up his base in Sitka whenever he would visit, then venture with a Native guide throughout Southeast by canoe.

"Traveling up the (Inside Passage), Richardson explored and painted Glacier Bay, Muir Glacier, Wrangell, Juneau and Klawock and Killisnoo," his biography states. He also traveled to the southern tip of the Aleutian Islands.

In 2005, "View of Wrangell," which is 9 ¾ inches by 13 ¾ inches, sold at auction through the Coeur d'Alene Art Auction in Hayden, Idaho, for $14,560.

"That was a strong price for the painting," said Mike Overby, a representative for the auction house. "We sold it subsequently in 2016 for around $7,500. We sold another one of his paintings in 2004 for $28,000, which is the world-record price."

Those pieces went to private collectors. The auction house has sold about 20 of Richardson's works over the past 30 years, Overby said. "He was one of the first explorer/artists to paint Alaska as it was. Artists such as Richardson, Sydney Laurence and Eustace Ziegler have always had great appeal, not only from collectors in Alaska but nationwide."

Overby said Richardson wasn't "terribly prolific," but he did manage to capture many of the places he traveled throughout the world. Of his works, the Minneapolis Institute of Art has 16 in its collection, the Smithsonian has 22, the state of Alaska has five and the Nolan Center has one, which depicts a Native dugout canoe at an unspecified location.

Tyler Eagle, collections manager for the Nolan Center, said the museum purchased the painting in 1995. Though the museum doesn't list a title for the painting, he said it appears it could be somewhere in Southeast.

In 1909, "Richardson was awarded the grand prize for his entry in the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition," his biography states. Two years later, he was injured when a steamship he was traveling on outside of Seattle capsized. It was the same mode of transportation he used when traveling to Southeast. Three years on Nov. 19, 1914, he died in Minneapolis as the result of those injuries.