Marine painter. Born in Nuremberg, Germany on July 11, 1864. Ritschel was educated at the Latin and Industrial School in Nuremberg. As a youth he worked as a sailor and it was during this time that he began sketching marine subjects. He studied art at the Royal Academy in Munich under Raupp and Kaulbach before immigrating to NYC in 1895. In 1911, he settled in Carmel, CA while continuing to exhibit on the East Coast and in Europe.

His paintings of the sea earned him international acclaim. In 1913 he received the National Academie's Carnegie Prize and in 1914 he won the gold medal and was elected a member. The year 1915 brought him a gold medal at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition. In 1918 he began construction on his ocean view studio-home in the Carmel Highlands. This castle-like stone structure was to remain his home for the rest of his life except for trips throughout the world, especially the South Seas where he frequently visited. Ritschel died at his Carmel home on March 11, 1949.

Member : Associate member of the National Academy of Design, 1910; National Academy, 1914; New York Watercolor Club; American Watercolor Society; Salmagundi Club, 1901; Artists Foundation Society; National Arts Club; Kunstverein, Munich; Allied Artists of America; California Watercolor Society; Bohemian Club; Societé Internationale des Beaux Arts et des Lettres, Paris; Academy of Western Painters, Los Angeles; San Francisco Art Association; Carmel Art Association.

Exhibited : Boston Art Club 1903,1905, 1908, 1909; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Annual 1903-29; Corcoran Gallery Biennials, 1907-37 (11 times); San Francisco Art Association, 1911; CI, Pittsburg,1912; National Academy of Design, 1913 (Carnegie prize), 1921 (prize), 1926; National Art Club, 1914 (gold); Panama-Pacific International Exposition, 1915 (gold); Sacramento State Fair,1916 (gold), 1936 (prize); Philadelphia Art Club, 1918 (gold); Salmagundi Club, 1923 (Isidor prize), 1930; Art Institute of Chicago, 1923 (Harris prize); Paris Salon, 1926 ( honorable mention); Pomona, CA, 1930 (prize); Dallas TX, 1930 (prize); Los Angeles, 1934 (prize); Springfield High School Art Association, 1935 (prize); Academy of Western Painters, 1936 (prize), 1937 (prize); Santa Cruz AL 19436 (prize).

Works held : National Museum of American Art; Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts; Art Institute of Chicago; Smithsonian; Oakland Museum of Art; Fort Worth Museum of Art; St. Louis City Art Museum; Bowers Museum, Santa Ana; Detroit Art Club; National Art Club, NY; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Minneapolis Art Museum; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; Albright Art Gallery.

Sources : WW47; Hughes, Artists in California, 470; P & H Samuel, 401-02; Falk, Exhibition Record Series.