Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 3

Julian Onderdonk
"A Glowing Day South West Texas" Date: 1910. Exquisite Sky in this Texas piece

Dated 1910

About the Item

Julian Onderdonk (1882 - 1922) San Antonio Artist Image Size: 6 x 9 Frame Size: 10.75 x 13.75 Medium: Oil Dated 1910 "A Glowing Sky" SW Texas Julian Onderdonk (1882 - 1922) Known as the "Bluebonnet Painter", Robert Julian Onderdonk was a Texan who spent his summers in New York City and the remainder of the year in San Antonio. He earned his title from the many wildflower paintings he did of the flowering fields near his hometown. He was the son and art student of artist Robert Jenkins Onderdonk and the brother of Eleanor Onderdonk, also a prominent Texas painter, sculptor, and art administrator. In 1901, when he was nineteen, he went to New York and enrolled at the Art Students League and became a student of Kenyon Cox, Robert Henri, and Frank DuMond. He also studied with William Merritt Chase at Chase's summer school at Shinnecock on Long Island and the New York School of Art, and Chase had a continuing influence on his work. Ever in need of money to support his love of painting, Onderdonk took a temporary position in 1906 with the Dallas State Fair Association to put on an art exhibit, and three years later he took a job with them that lasted until until his premature death in 1922 at age forty. Onderdonk married in 1902, and when he returned to Texas in 1909, the New York art critics had become aware of him. Onderdonk would maintain a foothold in the art world there because his employment by the Dallas State Fair Association required him to return on a yearly basis to New York City. Even though the artist had never been a member, the National Academy of Design in New York City took the rather extraordinary step, upon his death, of exhibiting Onderdonk's last painting, "Dawn in the Hills". A fund-raising campaign in San Antonio purchased the painting for the city's art museum. Robert Julian Onderdonk was a member of the Allied Artists of America, Salmagundi Club and San Antonio Art League. His paintings are in the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Fort Worth Art Association, Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, San Antonio Museum Association and Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas "A Texas Painter Worked Under the Radar in New York," By Eve M. Kahn, March 6, 2014, The New York Times Onderdonk, a San Antonio native who died of an intestinal ailment in 1922, at 40, is best known for painting swaths of Texas bluebonnets. Those canvases can bring more than $500,000 each, while his New York scenes usually end up in the five-figure range. Onderdonk’s parents were painters in San Antonio, and in 1901, when he was a teenager, they sent him to New York for training. Through 1909, he lived in various Manhattan apartments and Staten Island houses. He then returned to Texas, but continued to spend months at a time in New York. In 1902 he had married a Manhattan teenage neighbor, Gertrude Shipman. While she focused on raising their daughter, Adrienne, and worrying about their strained finances, “he created more than 600 works of art, often producing a painting or two a day,” Eyewitnesses recorded his prolific pace in New York, but Onderdonk works bearing those dates rarely turn up. The puzzling gap in his productivity is explained in family correspondence that the Bakers uncovered: The artist admits that he was signing pieces with pseudonyms. He mostly used Chas. Turner and Chase Turner and occasionally resorted to Elbert H. Turner and Roberto Vasquez. Julian Onderdonk was the son of the important Texas landscapist, Robert Onderdonk. He was the father's pupil at age 16. Sponsored by a Texas patron, he studied at the Art Students League in New York when he was 19, the pupil of Kenyon Cox, Frank DuMond, and Robert Henri. He also studied with William Merritt Chase on Long Island. In 1902, having lost his Texas patron because he married, he asked $18 for 12 paintings at a Fifth Avenue dealer in New York City, and was glad to accept $14 for the lot. In 1909, Julian Onderdonk returned to the family studio in San Antonio. He painted "the bigness of Texas, dusty roads, the blooming cactus or hillsides of blue lupine, rolling gulf clouds, aged liveoaks, and the gray brush in winter. His style changed somewhat in his later years." Onderdonk was heavy-set with dark eyes and hair, quiet and serious, "a strong personality." When he died at 40, "five of his pictures were on the way to New York. He also had orders ahead for $20,000 of work." He was known as the painter of the bluebonnet flowers of Texas.
  • Creator:
    Julian Onderdonk (1882-1922, American)
  • Creation Year:
    Dated 1910
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 6 in (15.24 cm)Width: 9 in (22.86 cm)Depth: 3 in (7.62 cm)
  • More Editions & Sizes:
    Image Size: 6 x 9 Frame Size: 11 x 14Price: $55,000
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Framing:
    Frame Included
    Framing Options Available
  • Condition:
    Spectacular small Texas Scene by Julian Onderdonk. Please check our 1stdibs storefront for additional goodies.
  • Gallery Location:
    San Antonio, TX
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU769313907562
More From This SellerView All
  • "STAGING ON THE SOUTHERN ARIZONA TRAIL" STAGECOACH ARIZONA / CALIFORNIA
    By Marjorie Reed
    Located in San Antonio, TX
    Marjorie Reed a.k.a. Harvey Day (1915-1996) California, Arizona Artist Image Size: 16 X 20 Frame Size: 22 X 26 Medium: Oil on Canvas "Valley of the Monuments"
    Category

    20th Century Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • "Golden Autumn" Yellows, Reds, Aspens Gorgeous Fall Colors
    By Eugene Thurston
    Located in San Antonio, TX
    Eugene Thurston (1896 - 1993) El Paso Artist Image Size: 40 x 30 Frame Size: 52 x 42 Medium: Oil "Golden Autumn" El Paso Biography Eugene Thurston (1896 - 1993) A prominent early Texas...
    Category

    1950s Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • "Texas Hill Country Creek" A Gentle Softness is apparent in this lovely piece
    By Jerry Ruthven
    Located in San Antonio, TX
    Jerry Ruthven (1947 - present) Austin Artist Image Size: 24 x 36 Frame Size: 32 x 44 Medium: Oil Dated 1982 "Texas Hill Country Creek" Bio: Jerry ...
    Category

    1980s Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • "Facade of San Fernando" Cathedral in Downtown San Antonio
    By Randy Peyton
    Located in San Antonio, TX
    Randy Peyton (1958 - present) San Antonio Artist Image Size: 60 x 48 Medium: Oil on Canvas "Facade of San Fernando Cathedral" Biography Randy Peyton (Bo...
    Category

    Early 2000s Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • "Summer Splendor" Texas Hill Country Prickley Pear Cactus in Bloom Wildflowers
    By Eric Harrison
    Located in San Antonio, TX
    Eric Harrison (Born 1971) Texas Hill Country Artist Image Size: 40 x 30 Frame Size: 50 x 40 Medium: Oil 2019 "Summer Splendor" Bio Eric Harrison “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” -Henry D. Thoreau Eric Harrison-born 1971 in San Antonio, Texas. In 1995 he married Kim Marie, and together they have two sons, Noah and Ethan. The Harrison’s reside in the hill country west of Blanco, Texas. Currently painting in a language resonant with other Texas artists such as Robert and Julian Onderdonk, Robert Wood, Porfirio Salinas, Dawson Dawson-Watson, and Robert Harrison; with an affinity toward the work of California painter William Wendt. Paul Cezanne and many of the post impressionists. Exhibitions and collections of his work include: The United States Embassy in Togo, Africa The University of Texas at San Antonio The Buckhorn Museum San Antonio Best of the Best Art Show Salado, Texas Texas Landscape Show The Nave Museum, Victoria Texas The Harrisons, “A Family of Texas Painters” Charles Morin Fine Art...
    Category

    2010s Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

  • "LATTICE ROSE" LOVELY LADY IN A GARDEN.
    Located in San Antonio, TX
    Richard Johnson (Born 1953) Chicago Artist Image Size: 40 x 30 Frame Size: 48 x 38 Medium: Oil "Lattice Rose" Richard Johnson (Born 1953) Richard S. Johnson The luminescent beauty and lyrical quality of Richard S. Johnson's work is what captivates collectors today. "Old Masters" technical virtuosity, pre-Raphael romanticism, and contemporary expressionism and abstraction all combine to create his unique works of touching depth and artistry. Rick's expressive skill for capturing the human form has brought him to the attention of the international art world. He was most recently profiled in the January 2009 edition of The American Art Collector and his skill has brought him numerous commissions: John F. Kennedy at the JFK Memorial Library in Boston, A commemorative painting of the presidents from Eisenhower to Bush currently hanging at the President's Council on Physical Fitness in Washington D.C. Rear Admiral Richard S. Truly, USN, the first commander of the NASA Space Shuttle...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Impressionist Figurative Paintings

    Materials

    Oil

You May Also Like
  • "The Covered Bridge, Point Pleasant" (Pennsylvania)
    By Herbert Pullinger
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to present this piece by Herbert Pullinger (1878 - 1961). Herbert Pullinger was born and raised in Philadelphia where he would spend his entire life....
    Category

    1910s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • "Winter Storm, NYC"
    By Johann Berthelsen, 1883-1972
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville Fine Art Gallery is proud to offer this piece by Johann Berthelsen (1883 – 1972). Born in 1883 in Denmark to artistically inclined parents, Johann Berthelsen would become a widely successful singer, teacher, and painter. After his parents divorced, his mother brought Berthelsen and his siblings with her to the United States in 1890, eventually settling in Wisconsin. At eighteen, Berthelsen moved to Chicago in the hope of becoming an actor, but a friend at the Chicago Musical College convinced him to audition at his school. Berthelsen received a full scholarship and enrolled at the college, where he was awarded the Gold Medal twice. After graduating, he had an active career traveling across the United States and Canada performing in operas and concerts, before joining the voice faculty at his alma mater in 1910. In 1913, Berthelsen became the voice department director at the Indianapolis Conservatory of Music. While in Chicago, Berthelsen met the landscape painter, Svend Svendsen...
    Category

    20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

  • "The Gray House"
    By Robert Spencer
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville is proud to offer this artwork by: Robert Spencer (1879 - 1931) One of the rarest and most important artists among the New Hope School, Robert Spencer was bo...
    Category

    1910s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

  • "House on the Hill, Stockton"
    By Richard Wedderspoon
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim's of Lambertville Fine Art Gallery is proud to present this piece by Richard Wedderspoon (1889 - 1976). Richard Wedderspoon was an important member of the New Hope Art Colony as both an Impressionist and Modernist painter. Wedderspoon was not only a respected painter, but also a teacher who spent summers at his Bucks County home and the school year at Syracuse University where he was Professor of painting. He was born in Red Bank, New Jersey and first studied art at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. He continued his studies at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, and at age twenty four, he enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts studying with Henry McCarter and Daniel Garber. While there his roommates were Charles Garner and Lloyd Ney. Wedderspoon began friendships with fellow artists, Charles Hargens, Clarence Johnson and Stanley Reckless...
    Category

    1930s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

  • "A Day in March"
    By John Fulton Folinsbee
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim’s of Lambertville Fine Art Gallery is proud to offer this piece by John Fulton Folinsbee (1892 - 1972). One of the finest painters to embark upon the New Hope Art Colony, John F...
    Category

    1920s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

  • "Shad Fisherman"
    By John Fulton Folinsbee
    Located in Lambertville, NJ
    Jim's of Lambertville Fine Art Gallery is proud to present this piece by John Fulton Folinsbee (1892 - 1972). One of the finest painters to embark upon the New Hope Art Colony, John...
    Category

    1920s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings

    Materials

    Oil, Canvas

Recently Viewed

View All