Julian Onderdonk (American, 1882-1922). Late Afternoon Williams Ranch, 1915. Oil on canvas. 5-1/2 x 8 inches (14.0 x 20....

Description

Julian Onderdonk (American, 1882-1922)
Late Afternoon Williams Ranch, 1915
Oil on canvas
5-1/2 x 8 inches (14.0 x 20.3 cm)
Dated and titled on the reverse: Late Afternoon / Williams Ranch- / July -1915-

PROVENANCE:
Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas.
The artist;
By descent to the artist's granddaughter, Eleanor Gould Onderdonk Limpert.


LITERATURE:
Harry A. Halff, Elizabeth Halff, and Emily Ballew Neff, Julian Onderdonk: A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven, Connecticut, 2016, p. 214, no. 785.


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. Julian's father and artist, Robert J. Onderdonk, helped found 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 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 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, largely inspired by the beauty and grandeur of the Texas landscape.

Like other Impressionists, Julian was fascinated by the atmospheric conditions found during different seasons, weather conditions, and times of day, particularly early morning in the Texas Hill Country. His own passion for the land of Texas cannot be doubted. 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." He often spent hours making plein air sketches and studies, which were saved by the Onderdonk family. We are proud to offer these sketches, studies, and family portraits on behalf of one of his heirs.




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