GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Luxurious blues and greens and loose brushwork capture the ever-changing effects of a field of bluebonnets. This humble state flower of Texas was forever transformed by the brush of San Antonio-born Julian Onderdonk, one of the greatest early Texas artists. Originally trained by his father, Robert Jenkins Onderdonk, himself an important early Texas painter, Julian Onderdonk studied with William Merritt Chase. Chase stressed the importance of working outdoors and paying close attention to effects of light and shadow. Onderdonk applied these lessons to his native scenery when he returned to Texas around 1909. His enormously popular landscapes spawned a host of imitators after his early death at age forty; however, none of them ever equaled Onderdonk's use of the Texas landscape as a way of investigating the dynamic experience of nature itself. This untitled landscape with a colorful field of bluebonnets is one of several other works by Julian Onderdonk in the Dallas Museum of Art collection that reflect the cultural atmosphere from which the artist sought inspiration.
Adapted from
Pitman, Bonnie, ed. "Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection." Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art; New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012, 270.
NOTES
This note was started by Erin Pinon, summer 2016 and saved as #incomplete. EAS will submit this #draft after reviewing the associated objects/files.
c. 1918-1920
Removed this from General Description
Having returned to San Antonio, the artist warmly recounted: "San Antonio offers an inexhastible field for the artist. Nowhere else are the atmospheric effects more varied or more beautiful. One never tires of watching them. Nowhere else is there such a wealth of color. In the spring, then 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." [1]
[1] Albert Curtis, Fabulous San Antonio (San Antonio: The Naylor Company, 1955), 225-226.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location and place of origin: San Antonio (Texas/United States): TGN: 7416035
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 1990: Margaret M. Ferris.
From 1990: Dallas Museum of Art, bequest of the above
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center~Learn more about Texas bluebonnets.
- The Legend of the Bluebonnet~Check out the legend of the bluebonnet on WFAA's website.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- Bluebonnets were named Texas' official state flower in 1901.
- In 1914, Julian Onderdonk said, "I like the bluebonnet because a field of this Texas flower seems just to have burst from the ground and it trembles subtly, making it very beautiful."
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1990.153
Category
rules_operator
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General Description
Luxurious blues and greens and loose brushwork capture the ever-changing effects of a field of bluebonnets. This humble state flower of Texas was forever transformed by the brush of San Antonio-born Julian Onderdonk, one of the greatest early Texas artists. Originally trained by his father, Robert Jenkins Onderdonk, himself an important early Texas painter, Julian Onderdonk studied with William Merritt Chase. Chase stressed the importance of working outdoors and paying close attention to effects of light and shadow. Onderdonk applied these lessons to his native scenery when he returned to Texas around 1909. His enormously popular landscapes spawned a host of imitators after his early death at age forty; however, none of them ever equaled Onderdonk's use of the Texas landscape as a way of investigating the dynamic experience of nature itself. This untitled landscape with a colorful field of bluebonnets is one of several other works by Julian Onderdonk in the Dallas Museum of Art collection that reflect the cultural atmosphere from which the artist sought inspiration.
Adapted from
Pitman, Bonnie, ed. "Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection." Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art; New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2012, 270.
Fun Facts
- Bluebonnets were named Texas' official state flower in 1901.
- In 1914, Julian Onderdonk said, "I like the bluebonnet because a field of this Texas flower seems just to have burst from the ground and it trembles subtly, making it very beautiful."
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center~Learn more about Texas bluebonnets.
- The Legend of the Bluebonnet~Check out the legend of the bluebonnet on WFAA's website.
Notes
This note was started by Erin Pinon, summer 2016 and saved as #incomplete. EAS will submit this #draft after reviewing the associated objects/files.
c. 1918-1920
Removed this from General Description
Having returned to San Antonio, the artist warmly recounted: "San Antonio offers an inexhastible field for the artist. Nowhere else are the atmospheric effects more varied or more beautiful. One never tires of watching them. Nowhere else is there such a wealth of color. In the spring, then 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." [1]
[1] Albert Curtis, Fabulous San Antonio (San Antonio: The Naylor Company, 1955), 225-226.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Depicted location and place of origin: San Antonio (Texas/United States): TGN: 7416035
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 1990: Margaret M. Ferris.
From 1990: Dallas Museum of Art, bequest of the above
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1990.153
source file
object_notes_3_c-0246.xml.nores