Richard Ludwig “Fresh-Air Dick” Janson

Birth: 1872

Death: 1951

Richard “Fresh-Air Dick” Janson
Sonoma Creek, California (active c. 1920-1945)

Richard Ludwig “Fresh-Air Dick” Janson…ships carpenter, commercial fisherman, market hunter and the most prolific and influential of the early California decoy makers.

Born in Estonia in 1872, little is known of this colorful characters early life.  “Fresh-Air Dick” Janson (FAD) lived on a floating ark at the mouth of Sonoma Creek where it enters the San Pablo Bay.  The earliest records document his commercial netting of striped bass on the adjacent bay.  In the spring of each year FAD would join the Alaskan salmon fisheries fleet where he earned his sailors nickname by insisting to sleep on deck no matter what the weather.

Janson used raw muscle power and primitive hand tools to fashion his decoys with redwood bodies and sugar pine heads. 

Most of FAD’s decoys were solid carved but hollow models utilizing precisely fitted chest plugs are not uncommon.  The skeg (keel) design was generally implemented on his diver species. 

Variations in Janson’s primary feather carving are known.  In general, his early diver decoys (canvasback and bluebill) were fashioned with three carved primary feathers and his later models were carved with four.  Smooth, featherless models are known. 

FAD carved high-necked models for use on the San Pablo Bay pickleweed marshes.  The high-necked pintails are rare and only a few high-necked canvasbacks are known to exist. 

In place of a primer coat of paint, Janson soaked his blanks in linseed oil and finished them with a mix of white lead and oil-based colors.

Pintails are the most common species found followed by mallards, canvasbacks, bluebills and green-winged teal.  Several brant are in collections today.  It is rumored that Canada geese, cacklers and wigeon were made but none have been found. 

Janson's final product was a simple, graceful and solid design with an intrinsic aesthetic.  His product was highly appreciated by sportsmen and the orders were certainly in the many hundreds, if not over a thousand.  It is documented that in the mid 1930’s Janson charged $28/dozen if you supplied the wood and $32/dozen if not. 

The “sports” were not kind to Janson’s weakness (alcohol and cigarettes).  Often the payment for decoys would include his vices as barter.

After World War II, FAD’s world began to crumble around him…the commercial fishing was waning, the vast numbers of ducks were in decline, the duck clubs were closing, the highways were widening and the plentiful and cheap plastic decoy substituted for the hand mad art form.

His neglected ark sprung a leak and began to be reclaimed in the marsh mud.  In 1951 the ark burned and Janson, with no place to go, spent his final years at the Oak Knoll Sanitarium in Sonoma where he died in bed at the age of 79.

The tragic life of this salty sailor is marked by the brilliance of his art.  Today, “Fresh-Air Dick” Janson decoys are among the most prized by west coast collectors.