Ted Kautzky 

(1896-1953) 

I became aware of the name Ted Kautzky long before I actually saw any of his work. My friend and Cape Ann artist Tom Nicholas, himself a National Academician, credited Kautzky with being the reason why he settled in Rockport. Tom was strongly impacted by Kautzky’s highly influential book, Ways With Watercolor, first published in 1949. A Hungarian-born immigrant, Kautzky’s mastery of the elusive medium of watercolor could not be better demonstrated than in his painting Tidal Flats. I saw a black-and-white image of this painting in 1999 at an Eldred’s Auction on Cape Cod and bought it sight unseen. Shortly thereafter, while in the early stages of working with my son Kristian on his book Artists of Cape Ann, Tom Nicholas saw this painting in the book and instantly remembered it as a gold medal winner in a 1950 Rockport Art Association show. When one recalls a painting from almost fifty years earlier, it speaks volumes about its impact. I acquired the second example a year later at a Shannon’s Auction, and it too revealed the artist’s technical facility with the medium as well as a visually compelling composition depicting the iconic Motif #1 between the houses to either side of the painting.