Watertown Daily Times, May 22, 1922
Theodore Gegoux Now in Champoeg, Oregon
His Painting of Oregon Pioneers Wins Praise
Lived Here Many Years
Artisit's Picture of Meeting in 1843 to Discuss Cutting Ties With Great Britian
One of Features of Celebration of 79th Anniversary of Event.
Since Theodore Gegoux deserted Watertown a dozen years ago for the Pacific coast, he has become recognized in the west as one of the greatest artists in oil on the other side of the Rockies and now his painting of the little group of Oregon pioneers, called together by one Joe Meek in the old Mclaughlin warehouse at Champoeg in 1843 for the purpose of determining whether or not Oregon should cut the ties which bound it to Great Britian through the Hudson's Bay Company, bids fair to rank with some of the canvasses of the great masters.
The celebration of the 79th anniversary of this event recently occurred at Champoeg, where over 1,000 Oregonians assembled, among them being Governor Geer, who was one of the principle speakers. The singing of a number of Indian and local songs formed part of the program. Mr. Gegoux who now makes his home in the Champoeg Memorial Hall, was there and saw his painting of the signing of the Champoeg agreement hung in a place of honor. It pictured the type of men who paddled their way with mocassined feet through the trackless western wilderness in the days when Oregon was young, and full of Indians and wild animals. In writing of the Champoeg aniversary celebration, Charles J. Lisle makes the following reference to Mr. Gegoux and his work in the Oregon Statesman: "Most of the visitors saw the great painting by Theodore Gegoux, who makes his home at the Champoeg Memorial hall. This painting, representing the answer to Joe Meek's call to "All who are for a divide, come over here!" has attracted much notice some hostile, most of it favorable, but all agreeing
that Mr. Gegoux is a master craftsman with the brush."
Two years ago his studio at Champoeg was destroyed by fire, and he lost most of his paintings and all his property. He is a French-Canadian, with all the mercurial temperment of his race, and his paintings are his life and his hereafter. He has a number of other paintings on exhibition in the memorial hall that deserve the attention of art connoisseurs. Some day they may rank with the famous old masters. Mr. Gegoux spent six years absorbing the atmosphere and gathering the data for his Champoeg picture. He found that only 26 of the 102 original attendants at the historic meeting had left photos or paintings of themselves, so that the others had to be reconstructed or realized. One of the French voyageurs had left many relatives back in Québec, who were known to Mr. Gegoux before he came to Oregon; so he painted a typical face of that family, "with a large mouth, because his people always did have big mouths". While Mr. Gegoux himself is not an Oregon pioneer, his pioneer pictures have made him a fixture at the association and meetings. One of his fine paintings on exhibition is the "Abernethy Farm", just across the Willamette from Champoeg, settled upon in the 1840's by the father of the three boys who now own it.
Mr. Gegoux, a resident of Watertown for many years, had living apartments and a studio over one of the stores in Public Square in the vicinity of the Miller-Strong Company. Portraits of many of Watertown's notable men were painted by him, and in addition he produced many landscapes that were works of art. In the court room at the court house hangs a life-size portrait of Justin W. Weeks, for many years the court crier for Jefferson county. Haddock's
history makes the following statement regarding it: "The artist Gegoux, has paintied an heroic sized portrait of Mr. Weeks, which has attained deserved popularity, as a fine work of art, reflecting great credit upon the artist, for he has made a picture that seems just ready to walk out of the frame, to become the very living man himself. The writer recently examined that picture with great interest. Nothing finer in the way of portraiture is seen in any of the great galleries of Europe - a thing easy to say but which any observing European traveler will verify".
A picture of a St. Lawrence river steamboat throwing its searchlight upon a sail yacht, is another painting that has attracted much attention in this section and has been much reproduced. About twelve years ago Mr. Gegoux left Watertown to visit friends in Ohio and never came back. For several years his whereabouts was unknown to his wife and his sons. No word came from him and whether he was dead was not known, although it was believed that he was living and had become tired of his home ties. A few years ago a representative of the Agricultural Insurance Company discovered him in Seattle, where he had made a great name as a portrait painter and had done the portraits of some of the most distinguished people on the Pacific coast. Sometime after that a reunion with his family was brought about.
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