Coast Guard is a drypoint created about 1940 by American artist William S. Rice (1873-1963). It is pencil signed and titled, and was printed by the artist on a sturdy cream wove paper. Although unnumbered, the number of impressions was probably less than twenty. This is a relatively large drypoint by Rice and the platemark measures 10-5/8 x 8-1/4 inches.
This is likely an image of a fishing spot along the eastern edge of the San Francisco Bay. It combines two elements of Rice’s most frequently depicted subjects: maritime vessels and native oaks. Three fishing boats are anchored just beyond a grand Coast Live Oak tree, its form both elegant and imposing — a “guard” of the California coastline. Northwestern California dominated most of Rice’s creative output, from the Sierra to the sea with special attention to the rolling hills dotted with oaks and the fishing communities of each region.
William Seltzer Rice, painter, printmaker, educator, and author, was born to Sarah Graeff Seltzer and John Maurer Rice on 23 June 1873 in Manheim, Pennsylvania. He moved to Philadelphia in the fall of 1892 to attend the Pennsylvania School of Industrial Art and was awarded a three-year scholarship to the school the following year. In June 1894, Rice received a Certificate in Industrial Drawings and the following June he received a Certificate in Decorative Painting and Applied Design.
After graduating in 1895, Rice was hired as staff artist for the Philadelphia Times but continued taking classes with Howard Pyle at the Drexel Institute. In August 1900, Rice moved to California and his friend Frederick H. Meyer offered him a job as Assistant Art Supervisor in the Stockton Public Schools. Rice taught for thirty years in the Alameda and Oakland public schools and, in 1929, he received his BFA degree from the California College of Arts and Crafts. That same year he published his book, Block Printing in the Schools.
Rice was a member of the Print Makers Society of California, California Society of Etchers, Prairie Printmakers, Northwest Printmakers, and the San Francisco Art Association. He exhibited with the California Water Color Society, Association of American Etchers, Print Club of Philadelphia, and the Wichita Art Association. His work is represented in the collections of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Boston Public Library, Fitzwilliam Museum, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Library of Congress, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, New York Public Library, Oakland Museum of California, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Worcester Art Museum.
William Seltzer Rice died at his home in Oakland, California on 27 August 1963.
