Julian Onderdonk: American Impressionist (Dallas Museum of Art Publications) [Hardcover]

William Rudolph (Author), A. Kate Sheerin (Contributor), Chloe Barnett (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 22, 2008 | Series: Dallas Museum of Art Publications

This lavishly illustrated catalogue offers a critical look at Impressionist Julian Onderdonk (1882–1922), one of Texas's finest landscape painters and a pupil of William Merritt Chase. Onderdonk transformed the Texas landscape, creating indelible images of his native state. One of Chase’s most dazzling students at the Shinnecock Summer School in Long Island, he brought Chase’s aesthetic of nature to an entirely new part of the American landscape. By his death at age 40, Onderdonk had been christened “The Bluebonnet Painter” in recognition of his lush signature landscapes featuring fields of the state flower.  

 

The essays examine the relationship between Chase and Onderdonk and how that dialogue transformed the way the latter viewed Texas. They also address Onderdonk’s relationship to the Western American tradition of landscape painting. Readers and viewers interested in American landscape, American Impressionism, and Southwestern art will enjoy both the critical essays and the beautiful illustrations—many never before seen.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William Rudolph is Pauline Gill Sullivan Associate Curator of American Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. 

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Dallas Museum of Art; 1 edition (April 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300118015
• ISBN-13: 978-0300118018
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,333,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Julian Onderdonk, American Impressionist, July 31, 2008

By 

Loretta D. Greene (Rockdale, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Julian Onderdonk: American Impressionist (Dallas Museum of Art Publications) (Hardcover)

The book features photographs of paintings exhibited at Dallas Museum of Art, entitled: "Julian Onderdonk: Bluebonnets and Beyond". The book is edited by William Rudolph with contributions by A. Kate Sheerin and Chloe Barnett.

San Antonio artist, Julian Onderdonk 1882-1922 studied with William Merritt Chase 1849-1916. Julian Onderdonk returned to San Antonio to paint the areas he knew and loved.

The book's catalogue of paintings shows masterful impressionistic landscapes which include brush country, hills, seasonal changes in southwest Texas as well as his bluebonnets. Since receiving the book, I have enjoyed touring the familiar area again and again from my comfortable chair.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully illustrated in colour throughout, December 8, 2008

By 

Benjamin (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Julian Onderdonk: American Impressionist (Dallas Museum of Art Publications) (Hardcover)

Published in conjunction with the exhibition Bluebonnets and Beyond: Julian Onderdonk, American Impressionist, organised by the Dallas Museum of Art, 2008. The opening essay looks at Julian Onderdonk alongside William Merritt Chase (who also taught Julian's father and first art instructor Robert) arguing that it was Chase who determined Julian's artistic direction and career; it traces the artist's education and development. The following essay, Julian Onderdonk and the Regional American Landscape, considers Julian Onderdonk's standing as an artist, and on the evidence of the work include here it is hard not to agree with the authors conclusion.

Following the catalogue, which occupies the major portion of the book, is a very interesting chronology which traces in parallel Texas and the Wilder World, The Life of William Merritt Chase and The Lives of Robert and Julian Onderdonk. The book includes an exhibition checklist, a bibliography and an index; the two essays are supported by ample notes.

The book is well illustrated in full colour throughout; there are 93 plates in the catalogue section which includes one or two examples by Chase and Robert Onderdonk. In addition there are numerous pictures illustrating the essays of work by Julian, Chase and others, again all in full colour with the obvious exceptions of period black and white photographs.

This is a fine yet relatively modest (in size) publication. I was pleased to see one or two examples of a detail from paintings. However I do have one quibble and that is with the size of the reproduction of many of the paintings illustrated. Much of Julian's work is quite small, in fact small enough that the reproductions could have been reproduced life size, and yet I could not find one example so presented.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Onderdonk Book, June 24, 2009

By 

GB (S.E. Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Julian Onderdonk: American Impressionist (Dallas Museum of Art Publications) (Hardcover)

Julian Onderdonk: American Impressionist (Dallas Museum of Art Publications)

This is a fantastic book...about a perhaps little publicized but highly significant Texas artist, and Amazon is certainly the bargain source for buying it.