Catherine Tharp Altvater (1907 – 1984) American, Pastel on Paper Cityscape. Pastel illustration of a cityscape as seen from a bell tower. Signed Atvater AWS, lower right. Framed.

Overall Size: 13 1/4 x 11 1/4 x 1 1/2 in.
Sight Size: 3 1/2 x 4 in.

Catherine Tharp Altvater (July 26, 1907 – October 9, 1984) was an influential American painter renowned for her mastery of both watercolor and oil media. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, she moved to New York as a young adult to study at prestigious institutions including the National Academy of Design, Grand Central School of Contemporary Arts, and the Art League of Long Island. Between 1947 and 1967 she won more than fifty major awards—including first prize in watercolor at the National Arts Club in New York in 1969—and her vibrant floral still lifes (notably White Lilies in the Rain and Hymn to the Sun), landscapes like Golden Dawn, and architectural scenes were widely exhibited at venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Academy of Fine Arts, National Arts Club, the Royal Watercolor Society in London, the Parrish Museum, and the Mexico City Museum of Art. She broke new ground as the first woman to hold elected office within the American Watercolor Society. In 1970 she co-founded the Mid-Southern Watercolorists organization in Little Rock to champion watercolor as a serious art form, and spent a decade living and painting near Scott, Arkansas before retiring to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where she passed away in 1984.