Lot Essay
In her volume on the plein air painters of California, R. Westphal writes, "Through the twenties, [Wendt] painted prolifically, living in solitude in Laguna Beach while Julia Lived and worked in Los Angeles. He would go into the back country for weeks at a time, returning only for the mail and supplies. . . He developed a bold, distinctive and assured style which N.D.W. Moure called "masculine impressionism." She states, 'Generally it was felt Wendt had grasped the bigness, solidity and virility of nature.'" (Plein Air Painters of California: The Southland, Irvine, California, 1982, p. 173)
Wendt painted Along the River Bed--San Juan Capistrano during the winter of 1923 while spending several months in the San Juan mountains. Later that year the artist sent the painting to his Los Angeles dealer Earl Stendahl, who included the painting in several important exhibitions of Wendt's work. When exhibited in 1926, the painting was accompanied by the following description, "Again we tread the pleasances at Capistrano. It is early winter, the season of greenest fruitfulness. Oaks are massed superbly on the left. In the middle distance, to the right, oaks and sycamores in sedate array glimmer and beckon. A sunlit prospect painted with easy mastery that comes from knowledge."
Wendt painted Along the River Bed--San Juan Capistrano during the winter of 1923 while spending several months in the San Juan mountains. Later that year the artist sent the painting to his Los Angeles dealer Earl Stendahl, who included the painting in several important exhibitions of Wendt's work. When exhibited in 1926, the painting was accompanied by the following description, "Again we tread the pleasances at Capistrano. It is early winter, the season of greenest fruitfulness. Oaks are massed superbly on the left. In the middle distance, to the right, oaks and sycamores in sedate array glimmer and beckon. A sunlit prospect painted with easy mastery that comes from knowledge."