1882 -1922 · San Antonio, New York, Shinnecock and Texas Hill Country

Blue lupins, mesquites and changing skies make Julian Onderdonk the great impressionist interpreter of the Texan landscape.

Robert Julian Onderdonk was born in San Antonio in 1882 into a family of artists. His father, Robert Jenkins Onderdonk, gave him his first lessons and encouraged him to observe colors and reflections of the Texan landscape. In 1901, the young painter went to New York, studied at the Art Students League with Kenyon Cox and Frank Vincent DuMond, then followed William Merritt Chase to the Shinnecock summer school. He learned outdoor painting based on the split touch, atmospheric variations and construction by light. To live, Onderdonk produced numerous landscapes in New York under different trade names, before returning permanently to San Antonio in 1909. The Texas Hill Country then becomes its central subject. He paints quarries, rivers, roads, mesquites and especially fields of bluebonnets, or blue lupins, in the morning, under the clouds or at sunset. These flowers are never a simple decorative motif: their colorful mass measures the extent, the season and the light. Died at forty in 1922, Onderdonk leaves an image of Texas that has become emblematic while remaining deeply attentive to the real conditions of the place. Died at forty in 1922, Onderdonk leaves an image of Texas that has become emblematic while remaining deeply attentive to the real conditions of the place. Died at forty in 1922, Onderdonk leaves an image of Texas that has become emblematic while remaining deeply attentive to the real conditions of the place. Died at forty in 1922, Onderdonk leaves an image of Texas that has become emblematic while remaining deeply attentive to the real conditions of the place. Died at forty in 1922, Onderdonk leaves an image of Texas that has become emblematic while remaining deeply attentive to the real conditions of the place. Died at forty in 1922, Onderdonk leaves an image of Texas that has become emblematic while remaining deeply attentive to the real

Onderdonk doesn't cover Texas with flowers: it uses lupine blue to measure air, distance and time of day.