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william wendt

(1880 - 1946)

William Wendt was born in Bentzen, Germany in 1880 and immigrated to Chicago where he studied briefly at the Chicago Art Institute and worked as a commercial artist. His close friend was artist George Gardner Symons, who made several trips to Southern California with him beginning in 1894. Wendt's interest in impressionism as a style increased towards the end of the 1890's as he and Symons painted together on the Malibu Rancho near Los Angeles. Southern California was a superb location for depicting the bright colors and the changing effects of light and atmosphere that defined Impressionism and its rejection of academic tradition and representation of a fleeting moment in time.

Wendt settled in Southern California permanently in 1906, and became one of California’s best-known Impressionist landscape painters during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was known as the "Dean of Southern California" artists, and his landscapes were especially admired for their rich green and brown colors and his use of broad, assertive, angular brushstrokes.

Wendt married his wife, sculptor Julia Bracken Wendt, in 1906 and they bought the studio home of Marion Wachtel and Elmer Wachtel on Sichel Street. In 1911 Wendt founded the renowned California Art Club, where he served as the second and fourth President. Indicative of his broad national reputation was his election in 1912 as an Associate of the National Academy of Design in New York. In 1913, he and Julia built a home in Laguna Beach. The two popular artists frequently exhibited together, and in 1915 he was the recipient of the grand prize at the Panama-California International Expo in San Diego.

In California, Wendt worked outside, "en plein air", rather than indoors in a studio, and he often traveled out into nature to sketch and paint. Today he is considered to be one of the most important and influential artists in the genre of California Impressionism. He had a deep respect and love for nature, particularly quiet and remote locations, where he appreciated the silence and solitude. As Los Angeles became increasingly crowded, he moved from the bustling city, and in 1919 settled in Laguna Beach where he remained until his death in 1946.

Wendt's paintings have been exhibited nationally at multiple prominent museums including the Chicago Art Institute, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Public Collections
Irvine Museum
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Dallas Museum of Art
Brigham Young University Museum
San Diego Museum of Art

For additional information, visit:

Wikipedia
Paintings at the Laguna Art Museum
California Art Club
A Large Selection of Paintings at The Athenaeum
Video: A Collection of 58 Paintings