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Lot Essay
William Wendt was drawn to landscape painting early in his artistic career and would remain dedicated to it for over three decades. Primarily self-taught, he found inspiration en plein air, developing his skill and unique style in the landscape itself. In 1896, Wendt traveled to California seeking new influences and ideas. When he permanently settled there six years later, he was already heralded as one of the region's most successful landscape painters. Wendt was deeply moved by California's untouched natural settings, finding godliness in its rolling hills, groves of trees, and in the mystical light. If he included evidence of man in his works, it was often set at a distance enabling the natural world to prevail. Wendt's landscapes transcend the physical world allowing us to glimpse the work of a higher being. For Wendt, nature was a manifestation of God's work, and he, a faithful translator.
An accomplished practitioner of the impressionist technique, Wendt embraced the grand scale of the California landscape. He once commented "I like plenty of elbow room when I attack a canvas. Nature isn't a two-by-four affair and I don't think pictures ought to be."
Golden Glow is an exceptional example of Wendt's early impressionistic style. The short, quick brushstrokes give the work a softness characteristic of his early work. In Golden Glow, the foreground is emblazoned with bold orange poppy blossoms that carpet the fields. These glowing flowers are juxtaposed against the deep green grass of the foreground, the purple shadows of distant trees and the hazy mountains, all of which intensify the flowers' brilliance. Wendt gently leads the viewer's eye toward the heavens in his repeated use of upward brushstrokes. This movement can be seen in the details of the small bushes, the trees, and in the fog that delicately hovers over the fields.
Wendt was committed to painting the landscape throughout the duration of his career. Never tiring of the many moods and impressions of nature, he painted them with conviction and with a deep sense of spirituality. "The sincerity and power of his work brought him a host of disciples... He is the dean of Southern California artists..." (The Official Art Exhibition of the California Pacific International Exhibition, catalogue, 1935)
An accomplished practitioner of the impressionist technique, Wendt embraced the grand scale of the California landscape. He once commented "I like plenty of elbow room when I attack a canvas. Nature isn't a two-by-four affair and I don't think pictures ought to be."
Golden Glow is an exceptional example of Wendt's early impressionistic style. The short, quick brushstrokes give the work a softness characteristic of his early work. In Golden Glow, the foreground is emblazoned with bold orange poppy blossoms that carpet the fields. These glowing flowers are juxtaposed against the deep green grass of the foreground, the purple shadows of distant trees and the hazy mountains, all of which intensify the flowers' brilliance. Wendt gently leads the viewer's eye toward the heavens in his repeated use of upward brushstrokes. This movement can be seen in the details of the small bushes, the trees, and in the fog that delicately hovers over the fields.
Wendt was committed to painting the landscape throughout the duration of his career. Never tiring of the many moods and impressions of nature, he painted them with conviction and with a deep sense of spirituality. "The sincerity and power of his work brought him a host of disciples... He is the dean of Southern California artists..." (The Official Art Exhibition of the California Pacific International Exhibition, catalogue, 1935)