In Julian Onderdonk in New York: The Lost Years, the Lost Paintings, an illustrated book published by the Texas State Historical Association, James Graham Baker explores the artist’s New York years, so often neglected by previous scholars.
Through painstaking research, Baker reveals that Onderdonk painted hundreds of images under pseudonyms during his time in New York. These images not only reveal the means by which the artist struggled to make ends meet, but add another dimension to our understanding of the artist’s oeuvre. It is not possible to appreciate and understand Julian Onderdonk and his art without including these works.
Largely composed of landscapes and marine scenes depicting the vanishing rural areas and shorelines around New York City, they show that Onderdonk was more than simply a “bluebonnet painter.”
Author James Graham Baker retired from Texas A&M University in 2005. During his time there, he developed a pioneering course in Texas art history. He was founding director of the Center for the Study and Advancement of Early Texas Art (CASETA) and lives with his wife, Kimel, in College Station, where they continue to collect and research early Texas art. noted Texas art collector J. P. Bryan, of Houston, wrote the foreword.
Urban Art & Antiques 