Arthur H. Vachell Arthur Honywood Vachell, also known as A.V., was born on November 8, 1864, in Dover, England. He was best known as an English painter, though he was long-associated with the Artist Colony in Carmel, California. In 1881 Vachell and his two brothers, Horace and Guy, relocated to California. Together they bought land at Rancho Corral de Piedra, situated in the Arroyo Grande basin to the southeast of San Luis Obispo. Naming this ranch Tally Ho, they began planting trees and vines. They are also credited with introducing polo to the West Coast. During their time in San Luis Obispo, Arthur, Guy, and Horace were all involved with community theater. By 1905 Arthur had established his first residence in Carmel-by-the-Sea. He began painting landscapes, garden scenes, and seascapes of the Carmel Beach. He and his close friend, Sydney Yard, “were often together on sketching expeditions.” One satirical commentator in the Los Angeles Times placed Vachell in Carmel’s more conservative “social faction” known as “The Eminently Respectables” –— a group that included the MacGowan sisters the prodigious novelists Alice and Grace, and photographer Arnold Genthe. Vachell was one of the few painters who habitually socialized with the literary crowd. He also continued to be a very passionate thespian, acting in both Forest Theater Society and Berkeley’s Greek Theater productions, creating posters to advertise the plays, and even painting sets. Society columns chronicled his travels, the company he kept, and the many charitable projects he participated in. Since Arthur produced fewer paintings than most professional artists, much of his income was derived from odd jobs, especially landscape design; he was reportedly adept at harvesting the local abalones. Vachell’s artistic activities were also monitored in the regional press. He specialized in seascapes, especially those in subdued light in the Tonalist style. In the spring of 1910 he exhibited at the San Francisco Art Association, the Del Monte Art Gallery in Monterey, and the Rabjohn & Morcom Gallery in San Francisco. The art critic for the San Francisco Call, Margaret Doyle, described one of Vachell’s low-key Carmel marines as: “full of a wonderfully soft, delicately radiant light and atmosphere. The sky is pearl gray, deepening to a darker tint, . . . A wonderful silver haze seems to touch the whole surface of sky and bay and faun colored sand.” In 1914 the New York Times listed Vachell in 1914 as one of the “notable” Carmel artists painting in oil. Blanche Marie d’Harcourt, art critic for The Wasp of San Francisco, offered this assessment of Vachell’s work in 1916: “Mr. Vachell presents them . . . [as] poetical studies in gray. Few artists have felt the beauty of a foggy day as Mr. Vachell has, or having felt it have realized the possibilities of painting an apparently dull and colorless sea and making of it a thing of delicate, witching beauty. The encircling gulls and rippling waves give life to the picture, but do not disturb the harmony of the gray note. To achieve so much in one tone is a rare accomplishment.” The Carmel Pine Cone described him in 1922 as “At the time of his return the Pine Cone called him “a painter of decided ability, specializing in garden pictures, white cloud effects and wet sands. His work has an elusive quality and a delicacy which are greatly appreciated.” In 1927 Horace and Arthur relocated to England and bought a large 18th century, English country estate in Widcombe, Bath, England. Vachell died on June 1, 1933, in Exmouth, England, at the age of 69. His Carmel Pine Cone obituary affectionately recounted that: “. . . . Arthur Vachell was an English gentleman, only mildly made over by a term of years in California, never forsaking his British citizenship. . . . . He was a charter member of the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club and the Forest Theatre Society. . . . Some of the finest sets on the Forest Theatre stage were his conceptions. The young people, boys and girls of those days, made A. V.’s studio their playgrounds. He was their uncle, or big brother and could always find time to add to their happiness or clear away their troubles. He was a fine gardener, and the grounds about his house were places of delight for childhood sports. The picnics held there were attended by young and old. His home was one of the most hospitable of Carmel’s many. . . .”.