On a stormy day in January 1999, Bonnie Portnoy, a Marin County native, and former merchandising executive who traveled the world, went off to the Marin County Free Library at the Civic Center to search for a morsel of material about the grandfather she never knew, California Impressionist Tilden Daken (1876–1935). There, a serendipitous happenstance would alter her destiny. Since that day, Bonnie collects his art and continues to research and write about his remarkable life. Born in Illinois and raised in California, Tilden Daken is best known for oil paintings of the redwoods, the High Sierra, Marin and Sonoma Counties, and the sunrises and sunsets of Southern California. He also painted in parts of the East Coast, Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, Mexico, Hawaii, and the South Seas.

Famous in his time, Daken was one of the most adventurous artists of the American West. After losing his home and studio in the 1906 earthquake and fire, he and his wife moved to Glen Ellen, where Bonnie’s mother and aunt were born. Daken’s story includes his six years in Sonoma County, his friendship with Jack London and their ride on the rails together, his work as a mine mucker in the California Mother Lode, his intrepid winters painting in the Sierra, his entanglement in the Mexican Revolution, his exhibition at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, painting scenes beneath the sea in a custom-built diving bell, painting to music in the “key of red,” hobnobbing with film stars and directors in Hollywood, his ill-fated journey to paint the headhunters of New Guinea, penning short stories about his adventures, and much more. Art critic Harry Noyes Pratt (Berkeley Daily Gazette, October 6, 1927) aptly captured his essence:

“Few Men have had such varied experiences as Tilden Daken. Whether he was braving the Mexican war between Villa and Carranza, where he was wounded three times and once held prisoner of war for eight weeks, or dancing around like a crazy man to keep from freezing to death while painting the Piute Pass in midwinter; facing unknown terrors of the ocean depths to secure true submarine views; tempting the headhunters of New Guinea or riding the brake beams with his friend Jack London — always he thought of his art and sought to put true pictures of the world around him on canvas.”

For more information about the artist, visit the Tilden Daken website or Wikipedia page.