JULIAN ONDERDONK (American, 1882-1922). Marsh Lands, 1909. Oil on panel. 6 x 9 inches (15.2 x 22.9 cm). Signed lower rig...

Description

JULIAN ONDERDONK (American, 1882-1922)
Marsh Lands, 1909
Oil on panel
6 x 9 inches (15.2 x 22.9 cm)
Signed lower right: Julian Onderdonk
Titled, signed, and dated verso: - Marsh Lands - / Julian Onderdonk - 1909 -

Marsh Lands, 1909 (76003) is a New York landscape painted in the months before he returned to
Texas later that year. It is heavily influenced by Tonalism, a rather amorphous movement which is
most often characterized by muted hues and misty atmospheric effects meant to emphasize mood.
The great American Tonalist, George Inness once wrote, "A work of art is not to instruct, but to awaken
an emotion." Inness often painted dramatic, almost abstract landscapes with large glowing skies
contrasted by smaller strips of dark earth below the horizon, very similar to the composition and
palette of Marsh Lands.

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.

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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