Welcome to the website for the Mathias J. Alten Catalogue Raisonné of oil, watercolor, and pastel paintings produced by this remarkable artist during a career that spanned nearly four decades.

This site documents more than 1,700 known authentic works by Alten, and is an on-going project with additional entries made as they are received and authenticated. About sixty percent of the works shown here were painted in this German-born artist’s adoptive home state of Michigan where he was known as the "Dean of Michigan Artists". He however traveled extensively during his career painting both in Europe and in America, and exhibiting widely at major American art institutions. His life and career were well documented in the Grand Rapids Art Museum's 1998 major retrospective: Mathias J. Alten - Journey of an American Painter and its accompanying 175 page publication of the same name.

In Grand Rapids, Michigan, both Grand Valley State University and the Grand Rapids Art Museum have major holdings of paintings by this academic impressionist. At Grand Valley's DeVos Center on the downtown Pew Campus over 40 paintings are on permanent public view in the George H. and Barbara Gordon Gallery. Selected Alten paintings are on public display as part of the permanent collection of the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

Acknowledgements:
I wish to acknowledge the assistance given me by the many private collectors, museum directors, curators, art dealers, librarians, and others interested in seeing this project proceed. In particular, I thank Celeste Adams, Director of the Grand Rapids Art Museum and Kathleen Ferres, the museum's Registrar, for her patience and help in affording me access to the extensive Mathias J. Alten Archival records held by the museum. I am additionally thankful to Henry Matthews, Director of Galleries and Collections, and his staff at Grand Valley State University, and to Alten family descendants, especially Mathias Alten's granddaughter, Anita M. Gilleo. I further gratefully note here that this project would not have been possible without the encouragement and support of George H. and Barbara Gordon, generous philanthropists and long-time collectors of Alten's paintings.

I deeply thank my wife, Gail, who encouraged me over the long years to continue to pursue this project when I had set it aside for long periods simply to escape the intensity it has required. I apologize to her for not acknowledging when she spoke to me while my eyes and mind were focused upon the myriad pixels of computer screens.

In reflection, no single person has been more helpful to me in my research than Mr. Kim L. Smith, Owner and Director of Perception Gallery in Grand Rapids. His support, passion for art, memory and profound knowledge of Alten's work has been the single-most important asset upon which I have drawn in developing this document. I thank him.

James A. Straub