EVERYBODY LOVES TEXAS ARTS and ARTISTS ROBERT ONDERDONK AUGUST 2014 Robert Jenkins Onderdonk was an American painter and art teacher, born in Catonsville, Maryland. An important artist in the first stage of Texas art, he was a long-time art teacher in San Antonio and Dallas, where he formed art associations and leagues; for his contributions to the culture of art and painting in Texas he is known as the Dean of Texass Artists. Coming from a distinguished and cultured Dutch family, He went to Texas in 1878 and married Emily Gould in 1881; they had three children He hoped to execute portraits for rich Texas citizens and make enough money to travel to Europe. He eventually stayed in Texas for thirty-eight years, where he painted and taught. In San Antonio, he founded an art association for women painters, the Van Dyck club, which later became the San Antonio Arts League; his daughter Eleanor was an important member and organizer. In 1893 in Dallas, he co-founded the Art Students League of Dallas, pupils of which displayed their paintings each year at the State Fair of Texas, in Dallas. Onderdonks masterpiece, the 1903 painting Fall of the Alamo, was displayed at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, and is now held in the Texas State Archives. Occupying central position in the painting is Davy Crockett, a depiction reproduced countless times in print; Crockett is portrayed in iconic style, swinging his flintlock over his head to club the Mexicans advancing through a hanging cloud of gun smoke. According to Fisks A History of Texas Artists, he would have been ranked one of Americas finest artists if he had spent more time painting rather than teaching.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 23:12:56 +0000
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