Lot Essay
Born in Germany, William Wendt immigrated to the United States in 1880, where he trained at the Chicago Art Institute. In 1896, he traveled West for the first time--a trip he would make again on numerous occassions with Hanson Puthoff, George Gardner Symons and Edgar Payne, among others. Here, bathed in the California sunlight, Wendt's sweeping brushstrokes and compositional harmony captured the beauty of the local landscape through the divine intervention of his spiritual belief.
A deeply religious man, Wendt's landscapes were more than by-products of French Impressionism, rather they were symbols of a greater power above and beyond the physical existence of his subject matter. By 1906, William Wendt was a devoted painter en plein air. The natural beauty of the West Coast fulfilled his desire to reveal the divine content of the world. In Arcadian Hills, executed circa 1910, Wendt's palette and fluid brushwork had successfully unified the popular style of the American Impressionists with his personal understanding of humanity.
A deeply religious man, Wendt's landscapes were more than by-products of French Impressionism, rather they were symbols of a greater power above and beyond the physical existence of his subject matter. By 1906, William Wendt was a devoted painter en plein air. The natural beauty of the West Coast fulfilled his desire to reveal the divine content of the world. In Arcadian Hills, executed circa 1910, Wendt's palette and fluid brushwork had successfully unified the popular style of the American Impressionists with his personal understanding of humanity.