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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, HOUSTON
Lot 82
WILLIAM WENDT(1865-1946)On the Banks of the Mississippi 28 1/8 x 40 in. (71.4 x 101.6 cm.)
Ending from 18 November 2025, 23:59 EST
New YorkUS$30,000 - US$50,000
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WILLIAM WENDT (1865-1946)
On the Banks of the Mississippi
signed 'W. WENDT.' (lower right)
oil on canvas
28 1/8 x 40 in. (71.4 x 101.6 cm.)
Painted in 1896.
signed 'W. WENDT.' (lower right)
oil on canvas
28 1/8 x 40 in. (71.4 x 101.6 cm.)
Painted in 1896.
Footnotes
Provenance
Private collection, Lake Forest, Illinois.
Private collection, grandson of the above, by descent from the above.
Sale, Sotheby's, New York, March 6, 2019, lot 90, sold by the above.
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale.
Exhibited
The Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists, January 26-February 21, 1897, p. 21, no. 102.
Literature
The Dispatch, Chicago, January 23, 1897.
"Exhibitions of the Week," The Sunday Inter Ocean, Chicago, January 24, 1897, vol. XXV, no. 306, p. 81.
"Receptions at Art Institute: Many Invitations Sent Out by the Young Fortnightly Club," The Daily Inter Ocean, Chicago, January 27, 1897, vol. XXV, no. 309, p. 10.
"Chicago Artist's Exhibition," The Sunday Inter Ocean, Chicago, January 31, 1897, vol. XXV, no. 313, p. 27. (as On the Mississippi)
"Past Events.," The Chicago Chronicle, January 31, 1897, vol. 2, no. 249, p. 28.
"In the Art Studios," The Chicago Tribune, February 14, 1897, vol. LVI, no. 45, p. 42, illustrated as an ink sketch.
L. Monroe, "Chicago Notes," The Critic, New York, February 20, 1897, vol. XXVII (new series), vol. XXX (old series), no. 783, p. 134.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Eighteenth Annual Report of the Trustees for the Year Ending June 1, 1897 with Reports of the Director, Treasurer, and Librarian, Catalogue of Members, List of Gifts, Etc., Chicago, 1897, p. 25.
C.W. Glenn, S. Taylor-Winter, eds., In Praise of Nature: The Landscapes of William Wendt, exhibition catalogue, Long Beach, California, 1989, p. 7.
J.A. Walker, Documents on the Life and Art of William Wendt (1865-1946), California's Painter Laureate of the Paysage Moralisé, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 1992, pp. 174-75, no. 496.
W. South, J. Stern, J. Blake, J.I. Smith, B. Colburn, J.I. Swinden, In Nature's Temple: The Life and Art of William Wendt, exhibition catalogue, Irvine, California, 2008, pp. 138-39, 190, 234, 314, illustrated.
William Wendt's On the Banks of the Mississippi is an exceptional example from the artist's formative years living and working in the Midwest and anticipates his monumental, idealized landscapes of California that would define his artistic legacy. After immigrating to the United States in 1880 and settling in Chicago, Wendt frequently ventured to the surrounding countryside to paint the Mississippi River, capturing the natural beauty of America's heartland with a tranquil, contemplative sensibility. As seen in the present work, his depictions of the Mississippi often feature broad, atmospheric views of the riverbanks and wooded bluffs with farmlands, barns, and houses visible in the distance. Wendt's rendering of the river and the hazy, full moon sky above with a subdued tonal palette reveals the influence artists of the Barbizon School and early American Impressionism had on his stylistic development. Unlike the sun-drenched, structured compositions of his later California landscapes, On the Banks of the Mississippi demonstrates Wendt's developing interest in mood and structure, as well as his concern for balancing realism with design and emotional resonance. On the Banks of the Mississippi was exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago's Exhibition of Works by Chicago Artists in 1897 and was subsequently awarded the Young Fortnightly Club Prize, with one reviewer commenting, "The 'Mississippi,' however, is Mr. Wendt's masterpiece to date. As to his future—well, that remains for time to develop. He has industry, and with health will do much." ("Chicago Artist's Exhibition," The Sunday Inter Ocean, Chicago, January 31, 1897, vol. XXV, no. 313, p. 27.)