Wendt, William (1865-1946).

Verdant Coast by William Wendt (1865-1946) 24" x 32", Oil/Canvas, Signed Est.: $40,000 - $60,000 Sold by John Moran Auctioneers for $154,000 on 11/14/2000

William Wendt 1865 – 1946

A central player in the development of California Impressionism who enjoyed an enormously successful career, William Wendt has been hailed as the “dean of Southern California artists” and “one of the two most significant and original painters in Southern California.” His mature style is robust and vigorous, characterized by of wide, blocky brushstrokes laid down in interlocking patterns, solid forms, and sturdy structures underpinning grandly sweeping views of unspoiled and unpopulated landscapes that reflect this profoundly religious man’s view of nature as a spiritual refuge. Wendt’s work epitomizes, both in style and philosophy, the conservatism and nostalgia so prevalent in California Impressionism.

After immigrating to the United States from his native Germany at the age of fifteen, Wendt settled in Chicago. Though he had little formal art training, except for some night classes at the Chicago Art Institute, he obtained work as a commercial artist and developed his skills while on the job. He also painted easel paintings in his free time, and after winning a prize at the Chicago Society of Artists Exhibition in 1893 decided to be a full-time easel painter. Between 1894 and 1898 he made painting trips to California and Cornwall, England, with his friend Gardner Symons, and exhibited the results of these trips at the Chicago Art Institute to much acclaim. He exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1899, becoming the first artist who would later be known as a “California Impressionist” to enter a landscape painting in that venue. After several more trips to California, the East Coast and Europe, Wendt moved permanently to California in 1906. He and his bride, sculptress Julia Bracken, bought a house in Los Angeles from Elmer and Marion Wachtel.

The beauty of the California landscape, “holy ground, Nature’s temple” as he referred to it in a letter to artist William Griffith, inspired Wendt throughout his prolific career. He remained a “pure” landscape painter, focusing on pristine scenes showing little or no evidence of human habitation or activity, even as California was becoming increasingly populated and built-up. In 1912 he built a studio in Laguna Beach, which he had first visited with Symons, and it was there that he spent most of his time until the end of his life. He was largely responsible for Laguna’s popularity as an artist’s colony, attracting many students and other professional artists to the rustic village. A leader among his peers, he was active in several clubs, including the Laguna Beach Art Association, the Painter’s Club of Los Angeles, and the California Art Club, for which he served as the first president. He also generously mentored many younger artists. Wendt exhibited widely and won many top awards throughout his career, and was one of the very few California artists elected to the prestigious National Academy of Design and the National Arts Club in New York.

By Annemarie Nollar
John Moran Auctioneers Art Research Specialists

Sources:

Gerdts, William and Will South California Impressionism New York: Abbeville, 1998

Solon, Deborah Epstein Colonies of American Impressionism: Cos Cob, Old Lyme, Shinnecock and Laguna Beach Laguna Beach, CA: Laguna Beach Art Museum, 1999

Westphal, Ruth Lilly Plein Air Painters of California: The Southland Irvine, CA: Westphal Publishing, 1982