Last Bohemian: The Life and Times of Jonathan David Batchelor Part 1

In these modern times one would be hard pressed to find any human being living a completely bohemian life, basing his existence not upon finances or money, but upon philosophy, love of art, and music. Jonathan David Batchelor was such a man. An unusual, precocious child, he evolved into a very eccentric adult with an archetypal free-spirited nonconformist existence..Part I of his biography revolves around his upbringing and close relationship with his musical vaudevillian father. Although Jonathan did have older siblings, there was a great spread of years and Jonathan was too young to be close to any of them. Tragically, Jonathan's mother succumbed to mental illness when Jonathan was but a toddler. One by one the older siblings left home, possibly due to their ailing mother. Because she had to be institutionalized, Jonathan was left without a mother before the age of five. Father and son were a family unit unto themselves and struggled through the Great Depression.After Jonathan graduated from high school, father and son left for Los Angeles. A self-taught artist, Jonathan sought instruction from two Southern California artists who set his imaginative heart flaming. He then explored Carmel's art colony and eventually landed at UC Berkeley for a WPA job. The WPA work gave to Jonathan stability and also brought him together with his first wife, Dorothy Dickinson.WWII brought both the abolishment of WPA work and the establishment of shipyards in the San Francisco Bay Area. Again, the steady shipyard job with a good salary brought stability and wealth into Jonathan's life, but the loquacious artist could not refrain from spreading his philosophical beliefs, which included anti-war rhetoric. Although he did not realize it, his war rants disturbed his shipyard co-workers. He was stunned when he discovered our government wanted to send him to a conscientious objector camp, not because he was a danger to anyone but because our government did not want shipyard employees to be demoralized. The camp was located in Waldport, Oregon and known as Camp #56 (nicknamed the "Fine Arts Camp"). The Fine Arts Camp housed painters, poets, novelists, musicians, sculptors and any other type of creative being who did not want anything to do with war.After his stint at Waldport Jonathan returned to the Bay Area. His marriage to Dorothy soon fell apart but he found himself attracted to an eccentric, freethinking librarian, Anna Gertrude McNamee. His life with Anna starts Part II of his biography. Included with the book are excerpts from Jonathan's letters and journals as well as black and white photographs of family members and color reproductions of his artworks. Read more