PORFIRIO SALINAS (American, 1910-1973). Hill Country Bluebonnets. Oil on canvas. 24 x 30-1/4 inches (61.0 x 76.8 cm). Si...

Description

PORFIRIO SALINAS (American, 1910-1973)
Hill Country Bluebonnets
Oil on canvas
24 x 30-1/4 inches (61.0 x 76.8 cm)
Signed lower left: Porfirio Salinas

Porfirio Salinas stands apart as one of the great Texas bluebonnet painters whose mid twentieth-century Hill Country landscapes helped popularize regional art. Salinas's current-day acclaim belies the quiet beginnings of his profession. Born on a farm near Austin in 1910, Salinas taught himself to paint by observing the work of two local artists: Robert Wood, who hired him to add bluebonnets to his compositions, and José Arpa y Parea, director of the San Antonio Art School. Dewey Bradford, Salinas's Austin dealer, advanced his career by introducing him to important private collectors such as Texas Governor John Connally and President Lyndon Johnson. Indeed, it was Johnson's endorsement of Salinas as his "favorite artist" that led to the skyrocketing value of his landscapes, even in a time when mainstream critics snubbed regionalism.

Salinas treated the Central Texas landscape as his muse, refining his impressionistic style by repeating variations on the area's signature hills, oak trees, and wildflowers. Hill Country Bluebonnets exemplifies one of his favorite compositions, where a field leads the viewer's eye to an oak tree and then beyond to distant hills. The solitary oak appears in many Salinas paintings, functioning as a metaphor for the Hill Country and perhaps for the artist himself. Here, Salinas accentuates the breeziness of a spring day through swirling, impastoed clouds and swaths of wind-tousled bluebonnets.



More information about PORFIRIO SALINAS. See also: Salinas, Porfirio, Porfirio Salinas Artist.



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