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Through Bakke's eyes

Whitefish artist James Bakke, much like his idol Vincent van Gogh, is largely unknown but still widely talented.

Bakke’s extensive work includes portraits of friends and family, paintings and drawings of his cats, still life, and landscapes of the Flathead Valley and Glacier National Park. At age 80, Bakke has spent seven decades taking photos and then turning those photos into art.

It’s a lifetime of work that Donna Hopkins couldn’t let pass by without recognition. Hopkins interviewed Bakke and put together a collection of his work into a recently published book, “James R. Bakke — Montana Artist, from the Prairie to Whitefish to Glacier National Park.”

Hopkins, a Bakke family friend, knew that his work needed to be viewed by others even if Bakke himself had no interest in it.

“He is so much a part of Montana history,” she said. “He is such an unknown treasure.”

Hopkins describes Bakke as somewhat of a recluse. His health has declined in recent years, but he still continues to work when possible.

“He promoted his work some in the ‘60s and ‘70s,” she said. “He was not a person to get involved in the business side of art. He was interested in painting.”

Bakke was born in 1931 and raised on 1,000 acres of wheatland near Gildford. The youngest of nine children, Bakke was more interested in drawing pictures than working cattle.

The book opens with a black and white photo taken of the Bakke family at their manor house in Gildford in 1918. On the opposite page is Bakke’s oil painting based on that photo and completed in 1990. The painting takes the photo and brings it to life with color and feeling.

“The prairie was his home and his love,” Hopkins said.

Bakke moved to Whitefish at age 16 and finished high school before taking a job for the Great Northern Railway. His first paycheck from the railroad allowed him to purchase a camera and take oil painting lessons in the late 1940s. This would begin his work featuring Whitefish, the railway and Glacier Park. Bakke worked for Great Northern for 33 years.

Bakke would take the photos and then later transform them — sometimes many years later — into paintings. He worked with a variety of media including pencil, crayons, pastel and oil.

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