JULIAN ONDERDONK (American, 1882-1922). Blue Bonnet Field, Early Morning, San Antonio Texas, 1914. Oil on canvas. 30-1/2...

Description

JULIAN ONDERDONK (American, 1882-1922)
Blue Bonnet Field, Early Morning, San Antonio Texas, 1914
Oil on canvas
30-1/2 x 40 inches (77.5 x 101.6 cm)
Signed lower right: Julian Onderdonk
Titled, inscribed, signed, and dated verso: Blue Bonnet Field / Early Morning / San Antonio, Texas- / - Julian Onderdonk - 1914 -

In 1909, after studying art in New York for eight years, Julian Onderdonk returned to Texas. During the
following thirteen years, before his tragic death in 1922, Julian would paint the Texas landscape with a
skill and sensitivity few, if any, artists have equaled. The particularly high quality of his paintings during
this period is partly due to the formal training he received while attending the Art Student League of New
York. It was there that he began taking classes from William Merritt Chase and later attended Chase's
summer art school at Shinnecock, New York. Chase's formal influence helped Julian refine his work and
further develop his own brand of American Impressionism, largely inspired by the beauty and grandeur
of the Texas landscape.

Chase is considered by many to be the most important American art teacher of his generation; some of
his most famous students include Georgia O'Keeffe, Marsden Hartley, and Edward Hopper, to name a
few. Chase began influencing Julian's work long before the two met. Julian's father and artist, Robert J.
Onderdonk, helped found the Art Student League of New York and studied art with Chase during his last
year there. Robert eventually settled in San Antonio, Texas and started a family. When Julian was sixteen
years old Robert officially became his first art teacher, passing many of the lessons he learned from Chase
on to his son long before Julian ever left Texas.

Julian often embraced other styles popular during this period, especially Realism and Tonalism. Elements
of Realism are evident in most of his landscapes, a product of his lifelong obsession with the natural
world of Texas. His sister and fellow artist, Eleanor once wrote, "It is impossible to look at any of
Julian's paintings and not see the man who looked at nature with wide-open eyes, analyzed, studied
and then created." Additionally, many of Julian's paintings show the influence of the earlier Barbizon
movement in France and the United States, exemplified by the later paintings of George Inness and the
contemporaneous movement dubbed "Tonalism." While the foundation of his style is firmly rooted in
Impressionism, at least some Tonalist elements can be found in a great deal of Julian's paintings. Indeed,
some resemble the landscapes of Inness more than those of Chase.

Like the Impressionists, Julian was fascinated with the different times of day, particularly dusk and dawn, and early morning in the Texas Hill Country. In such paintings, he combines Impressionism and Tonalism with his own special brand of Realism in order to immortalize the land he loved so much by invoking a strong emotional response from the viewer. His own passion for the land of Texas cannot be doubted. He once wrote:

"San Antonio offers an inexhaustible field for the artist. Nowhere else are the
atmospheric effects more varied and more beautiful. One never tires of watching
them. Nowhere else is there such a wealth of color. In the spring, when the wild
flowers are in bloom, it is riotous: every tint, every hue, every shade is present in the
most lavish profusion, and even in the dead of summer, when one would imagine that
any canvas could only convey the impression of intense heat, the possibilities of the
landscape are still beyond comprehension. One has only to see it properly to find that
everything glows with a wonderful golden tint which is the delight and the despair of
all who have ever tried to paint it."

Blue Bonnet Field, Early Morning, San Antonio, Texas, 1914, proves beyond doubt Julian had no reason
to despair. Much like Claude Monet's haystacks, Julian returns to the same subject at different times. Although
both works are set in the early morning, they are still very different pictures. Blue Bonnet Field was painted on
day when there was more moisture in the air so it has the quality of light and atmosphere found in Julian's most
haunting depictions of bluebonnets blanketed in mist. This gives the work a dreamy quality, as if the viewer
could step into the painting and be enveloped, transporting them into another world. This hazy effect is found
only in Julian's most exquisite bluebonnet paintings and, despite many attempts, no other artist has been able
to replicate it.

Julian's Impressionist landscapes of bluebonnets inspired exhibitions of paintings of Texas wildflowers in San
Antonio from 1927 to 1929, and ultimately gave rise to the ubiquitous "Bluebonnet School," prevalent in Texas
even today. Julian Onderdonk is often categorized as a Texas artist because of the popularity of his breathtaking
paintings of the Texas Hill Country, especially those that include bluebonnets, but these five paintings show
that definition is far too narrow. As the demand for his work grows, both inside and outside of Texas, they are
increasingly being recognized as important examples of American Impressionism which transcend any regional
classification.

More information about JULIAN ONDERDONK. See also: Onderdonk, Julian, Julian Onderdonk Artist.



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