Clarence Boyce Monegar

His watercolor paintings are found throughout Wisconsin, hanging in log cabins, art galleries, restaurants, offices, homes and even the glass Marine Plaza in Milwaukee.  A keen observer of nature, the scope, depth and feeling of Clarence Boyce Monegar's art may have had its roots in his ancestral heritage as a full-blooded Ho-Chunk (formerly known as "Winnebago").

Monegar was born on the outskirts of the village of Eland in Shawano County in 1910.  His great grandfather, Chief Joe Monegar, had been a renowned leader and medicine man among the Ho-Chunk during the Civil War; his paternal grandfather distinguished himself as a trick rider with the "101 Ranch" Wild West show.  His father, Thomas Monegar, however, eked out a meager living for his family of seven by working in nearby cranberry marshes.  As a child, Clarence was encouraged to pursue his interest in art by his mother, who was a weaver of exquisite basketry  and did skillful crayondrawings.

Monegar's first three years of school were spent at the Indian Parochial School in Wittenberg, Wisconsin.  His natural gift for drawing began to become apparent during this time, despite the availability of any trained art teachers to help him; he so impressed the headmaster, Reverend T.M. Rykken, that he made lantern slides of young Clarence's work. During the following five years, the boy attended the Tomah Indian School where, under the tutelage of Miss Crane, a bona fide art teacher, he received his first real instruction in the fundamentals of drawing.  Monegar began attending Wittenberg High School, but was forced to drop out to support his mother and family when his father unexpectedly died.

Over the next five years Clarence would have a variety of jobs -- as a farm hand,  cutting wood, picking cranberries, as a sign painter, and other odd jobs.  In 1927, at age 17, he spent six months traveling with a circus, as a rider in a covered wagon act. 

At 22, Monegar met and married Emma Stacy, and his interest in art was revived by her direct encouragement.  He and Emma had four children and were a thriving, happy family when Emma contracted tuberculosis and was sent to a sanitarium, as was typical in those days.  Clarence’s life and livelihood became more and more uncertain, and ultimately faced the tragedy of his wife's untimely death.  The shock was more than he could bear. Not long after becoming a widower, Monegar was brusquely and pointlessly placed in the Neillsville jail on a “non-support of a kinsman” warrant, after relatives complained to the authorities that he was unable to provide for his children.  This was apparently enough to catapult the still-young man back to his senses, and he literally "painted his way out of jail."  The “bull pen” became his first studio, and the local jailor, sheriff and District Attorney his first public.

Asking for (and receiving) brush, crayon, and paper, Monegar went on to paint eight pictures of wild animals in realistic settings. The subjects, drawn from memory, were accurately and vividly reproduced, down to the minute details of the anatomy of a deer in flight, the feather arrangement of a partridge, even the markings of a fallen tree.  Clark County authorities were so astonished by the results that in an unprecedented move; the District Attorney paroled Monegar to himself and drove the Native American and his art work to the University of Wisconsin in Madison. There, in 1940, Clarence met artist-in-residence John Stewart Curry, who was greatly impressed with the young man’s work and found its distinct and original style to be of higher quality than other, more established wildlife painters of the time.  Subsequently, his paintings were featured at the next Rural Art Exhibit and all eight sold.  Curry taught him many of the techniques he needed to hone his skill; as Monegar would later recount to many people, the time he spent with Curry was the most significant and best thing that had ever happened to him. This became the catalyst for his career; during his stay in Madison, Monegar became an artist recognized by critics, conservation workers, and the public for his wildlife paintings.

1945 found Clarence Monegar drafted into the Army as an ambulance driver for the Medical Corps. After his discharge he returned to Black River Falls and married his sister-in-law, Mathilda, who had cared for his children and kept them together.  Using his G.I. benefits, he traveled to Chicago to study at the Art Institute and further refine his watercolor techniques, and to become more comfortable working in other art mediums. He ventured into lithography and tried his hand at silk-screening, but his driving passion continued to be for watercolor wildlife painting.

Monegar employed the “wet method”: he would begin his work with the sketch of a bird or animal then mask it over with a type of rubber cement. After sponging clear water entirely over the board, he would set about painting the landscape with sable brushes and his pre-mixed palette of ten to twelve colors.  With speed the utmost concern, he would remove the “mask” from the main subject and foreground trees-and then begin the painstaking and tedious job of painting each in minute detail.  All of Monegar’s paintings are immediately recognizable with backgrounds that are done in various shades and hues as subtle as the clouds at sunset.  To the right or left of the main object (bird, deer, or fish), one will almost always find his trademark: a large birch tree.  Usually, there will be smaller birches set among pines gracing the background.

A constant wanderer, Clarence Monegar was frequently in Milwaukee, and in 1955 was commissioned to paint "Winter Majesty" and another, "Settin’ Down," by the owner’s father, as a birth gift.  Family photos of the owner still in his crib show these two paintings hanging on the walls of his bedroom.

Clarence Boyce Monegar died in 1968 at Black River Falls, Wisconsin.