Frederick Machetanz, 94, Artist Who Chronicled Alaskan Life -- Rest in Peace

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Subject: Frederick Machetanz, 94, Artist Who Chronicled Alaskan Life

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dead @ 94

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Date Posted: October 19, 2002 4:05:04 EDT

Frederick Machetanz, a distinctive and high-profile Alaskan artist, died on Oct. 6 at a hospital in Palmer, Alaska.

In a career spanning nearly seven decades, Mr. Machetanz first built a reputation as an illustrator. He later became the last of Alaska's master painters of its wildlife, dog teams, old-timers, native peoples and vast landscapes.

Born in Kenton, Ohio, in 1908, Mr. Machetanz entered Ohio State University in 1926. Intrigued by the visual arts, he visited the illustrators Norman Rockwell, N. C. Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish.

After receiving a master's degree in art in 1935, he went to Alaska for a vacation, visiting an uncle, Charles Traeger, who ran a trading post in Unalakleet, a tiny fishing village on the Bering Sea. He stayed on permanently.

Many of his paintings of later years were portraits of native Alaskans or depictions of village life. In 1939 he wrote a children's book based on his village experience, "Panuck, Eskimo Sled Dog." The book was a staple in Alaskan schools before statehood.

From 1942 to 1945 he was a lieutenant commander in the Navy, assigned as an intelligence officer to the North Pacific Command. After the war, he used his G.I. Bill benefits to study lithography at the Art Students League in New York.

At his first solo show, in 1962, 24 of 44 paintings were sold in the first few hours, and he became a full-time painter.

His technique involved painting the entire canvas blue before working on the rest of the picture; blue tones usually predominated in the final result.

In 1947 he married Sara Dunn, and they became collaborators in film and publishing projects. He later became an art professor at the University of Alaska.

His wife died last year. He is survived by their son, Traeger, and by grandchildren.

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