Rolla S. Taylor

"Leon Springs" Near San Antonio Texas Old Cabin

Circa 1930s

G. Harvey (Gerald Harvey Jones) (1933-2017) San Antonio, Austin, and Fredericksburg Artist Image Size: 11 x 6 1/8 Frame Size: 21 x 16 Medium: Oil Dated 1986 "New York" G. Harvey (Gerald Harvey Jones) (1933-2017) Known for paintings closely linked in mood and subject matter to Edouard Cortes [1882-1962], G Harvey creates romanticized street scenes of turn of the century towns in America. Rain slick streets reflect urban lights, and the weather is obviously cold. He grew up in the rugged hills north of San Antonio, Texas from where herds of longhorn cattle were once driven up dusty trails to the Kansas railheads. His grandfather was a trail boss at 18 and helped create an American legend for his grandson. So, the American West is not only the artist's inspiration but his birthright. Harvey's early interest in sketching and drawing slowly evolved into a passion for painting in oils. After graduating cum laude from North Texas State University, Harvey took a position with the University of Texas in Austin, but he soon realized that weekends and nights at the easel did not satisfy his love of painting. He abandoned the security of a full-time job in 1963 and threw his total energy into a fine art career. Harvey paints the spirit of America from its western hills and prairies to the commerce of its great cities. His original paintings and bronze sculptures are in the collections of major corporations, prestigious museums, the United States government, American presidents, governors, foreign leader and captains of industry. The Smithsonian Institution chose Harvey to paint The Smithsonian Dream, commemorating its 150th Anniversary. The Christmas Pageant of Peace commissioned Harvey to create a painting celebrating this national event. He has been the recipient of innumerable awards and the subject of three books. G. Harvey lived in Fredericksburg, Texas, with his wife Pat in a 150-year-old stone home built by German settlers. His studio and residence are nestled within the Historic District of Fredericksburg. It is obligation of fine artists to present us with more than pretty pictures. They must also make us feel. Among the western painters...

Olive Brack San Antonio River (1890-1957) San Antonio, TX Image Size: 12 x 18 Frame Size: 15.5 x 21.5 Medium: Oil Dated 1912 "Lilly Pads" Biography Olive ...

Robert Jenkins Onderdonk (1852 - 1917) San Antonio Artist Toluca, Mexico painting. Mexican Street Scene Image Size: 11 x 8 Frame Size: 15 x 12 Medium: Oil "Toluca, Mexico" Circa 1912 This piece was painted in 1912 when Robert & his wife went to visit his son who was working in Mexico City at that time. Robert Onderdonk is considered the "Dean" of Texas Painters. Robert Jenkins Onderdonk (1852 - 1917) Robert Jenkins Onderdonk is noted for his landscape and portrait paintings and also for his fine art teaching. Onderdonk was born in Catonsville, Maryland in 1852. He was the father of Robert Julian Onderdonk and Eleanor Rogers Onderdonk, also distinguished Texas artists. He received an academic education at the College of St. James, Catonsville, followed by studies at the National Academy of Design in 1872 under the instruction of Lemuel Everett Wilmarth. In 1875, Onderdonk attended Art Students League of New York and received instruction from Walter Shirlaw, James Carroll Beckwith and William Merritt Chase. Onderdonk moved to San Antonio, Texas in 1878 where he made a living teaching and selling his paintings. In 1889 he moved to Dallas, where he painted several portraits for the Huburt Portrait Company, followed by employment with the Art Students League of Dallas. In 1896, Onderdonk returned to San Antonio, Texas where he continued to paint until his death in 1917. Onderdonk was a member of the Allied Artists of America; Salmagundi Club, New York, and the San Antonio Art League. Exhibitions included the Annual Exhibition of the State Fair of Texas, Dallas; Dallas Art Association; Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis; Annual Texas Artists Exhibition, Fort Worth; Annual Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, and the San Antonio Art League. Source: John and Deborah Powers, "Texas Painters, Sculptors, and Graphic Artists" Robert Jenkins Onderdonk was born at St. Timothy's Hall, Catonsville Maryland, in 1852. He had a very thorough academic education and was always sketching family members, classmates and landscapes on the back of his school books. This sketching ethic was a process he subscribed to his entire life, always carrying a sketch book with him where ever he went, like a camera of today. Deciding to make art his profession, Robert moved to New York. He was not only a part of the academic beginnings of American art while studying in New York at the renowned National Academy of Design in 1870, but also one of the first student members, under the instruction of Lemuel Everett Wilmarth, at the Arts Students League. At the League, Robert also studied and honed his craft with other teachers including Walter Shirlaw, William Merritt Chase and James Carroll Beckwith. Some of his classmates included: George Inness, Jr., Frederick Stuart Church, John Henry Twachtman and a Texan from San Antonio named Edward Grenet. Robert was lured to Texas in 1879 by his childhood friend and rancher, William Negely and by stories he read in the tabloids of the day that touted Texas as the "Promised Land." Robert found the light, people and atmosphere of San Antonio agreeable and quickly settled in. He soon met a fellow Texas artist, Emily Gould, whom he married in 1881. They lived with her parents in a house called "Bella Vista" throughout their lives. The house was two miles north of town, had a wonderful view of the city and still stands today. Here Robert lived and taught art classes, painted portrait commissions, landscapes, still lifes and supported his family. Some of his students, who later became well-known Texas artists, were Mary Bonner, Seymour Thomas, Edward D. Eisenlohr, and Rolla Taylor. Robert worked hard and encouraged his students to do their best. Robert was part of and organized several of the first art clubs in Texas, further helping to develop an interest in Texas art in the State and nationwide, but also giving Texas and American artists places to display their works, win awards and achieve much needed recognition. He helped organize "The Brass Mug Club," a revered group of San Antonio artists that met on Sundays to enjoy friendship and go into the Texas Hill Country and paint. Members included Julian Onderdonk (Robert's son), José Arpa, Leo Cotton, Rolla Taylor, Tom Brown and Ernst Raba. In 1912, Robert and Julian were involved in the organization of the San Antonio Art League, the first important art organization in Texas with the mission to establish a free public gallery in San Antonio with exhibitions, lectures and classes in art. Later, larger exhibitions that needed more room due to the extreme popularity of the League and its awards were held at the Witte Museum in San Antonio. While living in Dallas from 1889 to 1895, and in order to obtain commissions, Robert organized the first Dallas art school, the Dallas Arts Students League, where he was president and instructor. In 1905, Robert was chosen to select artists from New York and Texas to be represented and judged at the Dallas Fair, which later became the State Fair of Texas. In 1901, Robert was commissioned by well-known Texas historian and writer, James T. DeShields, to paint a large historic painting of the Alamo battle. He used his family, friends and fellow artists for this painting, including his son. Robert even put himself in the painting, as one of the Alamo Defenders, taking a mortal shot from the enemy and falling backwards. The painting took three years to complete. The Fall of The Alamo was first exhibited at the St. Louis Worlds Fair in 1904. Among Robert's important commissions were the illustrations he provided for feared Texas gunfighter John Wesley Hardin's autobiography, The Life of John Wesley Hardin, published in 1896. This was a courageous task by Onderdonk considering that Hardin, who had killed over forty men, was the fastest gun in the West, East, North or South. When Robert Jenkins Onderdonk died in 1917 at the age of sixty-five at his home in San Antonio, he was known as the dean of Texas artists. His contributions to Texas art and the early artists of Texas were well-known and well-respected. Written by Peter C. Rainone, as published in American Art Review, June 2008 Robert Onderdonk was educated at the College of St. James in Maryland where his father was headmaster. At 20, he studied for two years at the National Academy of Design, under Wilmarth, then at the Art Students League under Shirlaw and Beckwith. He was the private pupil of A H Warren, a tonalist painter known as "the Corot of America." In 1878, he concluded his art studies with William Merritt Chase. To earn funds for a European trip he never made, Onderdonk was persuaded to establish his studio in San Antonio in 1878. By 1881 he was married, living near Pedro Spring, and taking the mule car to his studio in the city. He always carried with him a wood panel such as the top of a cigar box so he could paint small scenes. For his studio classes he charged $3 per month. He moved to Dallas in 1889, when offered $100 a month to teach. After his father-in-law died in 1896, he returned to San Antonio where he remained except for a trip to St. Louis in 1899 to try commercial painting on tile. Not ambitious, not robust, not careful in signing his paintings, he received commissions for hundreds of portraits without being able to earn a suitable living. Even his epic "Davy...

John Austin Hanna Born 1942 Fredericksburg Artist Size: 12 x 16 Frame 21 x 25 Medium: Oil Dated 1999 "Johnnies House" 1860s Fredericksburg Home BIO: John Austin Hanna - Fredericksburg, Texas - b. 1942 John graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in Advertising Art and Design. As a 20-year illustrator in New York and Dallas he has been published in several magazines such as Automotive Quarterly, Car and Driver, Saga, Town & Country, Flying, Popular Boating, and Popular Science. He has also done work for several large corporations such as Mercedes, Volkswagen, Bell Helicopter, Lockheed Martin, Borden’s, Pearl Beer...

Gary Lynn Roberts (Born 1953) Texas Artist Image Size: 20 x 16 Frame Size: 28.5 x 24.5 Medium: Oil Dated 1973 "Fall Landscape" Gary Lynn Roberts (Born 1953) ...

The following two paintings are being offered as a pair. Only one is signed the other is not. Both early New Mexico Paintings with beautiful heavy i...

As one of the first, and most important, American Impressionists, Theodore Robinson helped to introduce the French style to American artists and audiences.

Signed lower right: G.W. Sotter; on verso: MINER HILLARD / MILLING Co.

Signed lower right: Irving R. Wiles

Whitney was born in Connecticut in 1981, lived in Surrey, England for nearly a decade, and currently resides in Richmond, Virginia. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from D...

Whitney was born in Connecticut in 1981, lived in Surrey, England for nearly a decade, and currently resides in Richmond, Virginia. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from D...

Whitney was born in Connecticut in 1981, lived in Surrey, England for nearly a decade, and currently resides in Richmond, Virginia. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from D...