Julian Onderdonk (American, 1882-1922). The Woodland Glade, Maine, 1909. Oil on canvas. 13 x 8 inches (33.0 x 20.3 cm). ...

Description

Julian Onderdonk (American, 1882-1922)
The Woodland Glade, Maine, 1909
Oil on canvas
13 x 8 inches (33.0 x 20.3 cm)
Signed lower left: Julian Onderdonk
Signed, dated, and titled on the reverse: The Woodland Glade / Maine / Julian Onderdonk / 1909

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. His bluebonnet paintings are among the most highly prized Texas paintings, but his New York paintings are also highly sought after by collectors.

Julian's father and artist, Robert J. Onderdonk, was a founder of the Art Student League of New York and studied under William Merritt Chase during his last year there. Robert eventually settled in San Antonio and started a family. When Julian was sixteen years old Robert officially became his first art teacher. The quality of Julian's work was further enhanced 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 Chase and later attended Chase's summer art school at Shinnecock, New York.

These formative influences helped Julian refine his work and further develop his own brand of American Impressionism. Julian Onderdonk is often categorized as a Texas artist because of the popularity of his breathtaking paintings of the Texas Hill Country but as demand for his work grows both inside and outside of Texas, his paintings are increasingly being recognized as important examples of American Impressionism, which transcend any regional classification.

Julian Onderdonk returned to Texas in 1909, ironically the same year he painted The Woodland Glade, Maine and November Morning, offered in this sale. The illusion of reflection on water he achieved in both November Morning and Autumn's Pond speaks to not only to his studies with William Merritt Chase on Long Island, but also to his depictions of the rivers of New York he saw and painted frequently, sometimes even selling the works under pseudonyms. Moreover, these reflections on water, and the overall palette of all three paintings, reinforce Onderdonk's awareness of Hudson River School paintings by Jasper Francis Cropsey and very early Ralph Albert Blakelock. The heavy impastos are only partly due to the small size of each panel; Onderdonk's freedom in pushing around the chunks of thick paint in these three works gives voice to his absorption of impressionist teachings experienced through the canvases of other members of The Ten, especially Childe Hassam and Julian Alden Weir.




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