Robert William Wood
Encyclopedia
Robert William Wood was an American landscape painter. He was born in England, emigrated to the United States and rose to prominence in the 1950s with the sales of millions of his color reproductions. He was active in the art colonies of San Antonio, Texas
in the 1930s, Monterey, California
in the 1940s and Laguna Beach
in the 1950s.
in New York, the California coast, the Grand Tetons, the Rocky Mountains
, the Texas Hill Country
and the Cascades
were most popular. His popularity made him a household name in America. Millions of his reproductions were printed in large editions by a number of publishers and titles like "Autumn Bronze," "Early Spring." "Pine & Birch," "Texas Spring," and "The Old Mill" are found in homes across North America.
in Bishop, California
in the early 1960s with his wife, the artist Caryl Wood. On a large parcel of land with its own trout pond, they built studios for each of them. The Woods sold the property to move to San Diego, California where they restored a Victorian home. After a few years in San Diego, they returned to Bishop where they purchased a smaller property. Wood died in Bishop at the age of eighty-nine, just a month before a large retrospective exhibition was mounted at the Morseburg Galleries in Los Angeles, by Howard Morseburg and the Newport Beach gallery owner Raymond Hagen.
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
in the 1930s, Monterey, California
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
in the 1940s and Laguna Beach
Laguna Beach, California
Laguna Beach is a seaside resort city and artist community located in southern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southwest of the county seat of Santa Ana...
in the 1950s.
Life and work
Robert William Wood was born in Sandgate, Kent, England, near the White Cliffs of Dover. After emigrating from England in 1910, he began his American career and for more than sixty years he criss-crossed the American Continent, from Maine to California in search of landscape subjects.Robert Wood Reproductions
Wood's work was widely published by a number of publishers. The most prolific publisher of Wood's work was Donald Bonnist's Donald Art Company which distributed more than one-million copies of "October Morn," Wood's most popular print in less than two years. Wood was at the peak of his fame in the 1950s through 1970s when his scenes of the Catskill MountainsCatskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
in New York, the California coast, the Grand Tetons, the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, the Texas Hill Country
Texas Hill Country
The Texas Hill Country is a vernacular term applied to a region of Central Texas featuring tall rugged hills consisting of thin layers of soil atop limestone or granite. It also includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite monadnock in the United States, Enchanted Rock, which is located...
and the Cascades
Cascade Range
The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...
were most popular. His popularity made him a household name in America. Millions of his reproductions were printed in large editions by a number of publishers and titles like "Autumn Bronze," "Early Spring." "Pine & Birch," "Texas Spring," and "The Old Mill" are found in homes across North America.
Studio Locations
He lived in rural Ohio; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon;San Antonio, Texas; Monterey, California; Laguna Beach, California; Woodstock, New York ; San Diego, California; and Bishop, California. He was a popular exhibitor at the Laguna Art Festival and a Life Member of the Laguna Art Association. Wood was represented by galleries in Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Cleveland.Later life
Wood moved to the Owens ValleyOwens Valley
Owens Valley is the arid valley of the Owens River in eastern California in the United States, to the east of the Sierra Nevada and west of the White Mountains and Inyo Mountains on the west edge of the Great Basin section...
in Bishop, California
Bishop, California
Bishop is a city in Inyo County, California, United States. Though Bishop is the only city and the largest populated place in Inyo County, the county seat is Independence. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of 4147 feet . The population was 3,879 at the...
in the early 1960s with his wife, the artist Caryl Wood. On a large parcel of land with its own trout pond, they built studios for each of them. The Woods sold the property to move to San Diego, California where they restored a Victorian home. After a few years in San Diego, they returned to Bishop where they purchased a smaller property. Wood died in Bishop at the age of eighty-nine, just a month before a large retrospective exhibition was mounted at the Morseburg Galleries in Los Angeles, by Howard Morseburg and the Newport Beach gallery owner Raymond Hagen.
Assessment
Wood was an extremely facile painter and his artistic production was substantial, certainly in excess of 5,000 completed works. Wood's work is sold at galleries specializing in historic American Art and is sold frequently at auction, with his auction record in excess of $40,000.See also
- California Plein-Air PaintingCalifornia Plein-Air PaintingThe term California Plein-Air Painting describes the large movement of 20th century California artists who worked out of doors, directly from nature in California, United States. Their work became popular in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California in the first three decades after the...
- American ImpressionismAmerican ImpressionismImpressionism, a style of painting characterized by loose brushwork and vivid colors, was practiced widely among American artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.-An emerging artistic style from Paris:...
- Robert ClunieRobert ClunieRobert Clunie was a Scottish-American plein air painter, specializing in California landscape art with a particular focus on the rugged mountain scenery of the High Sierra.-Early life:...
- a California Plein-Air artist and Bishop friend. - Carl HoppeCarl HoppeCarl Thomas Hoppe, a South Texas artist, was born to German immigrants August and Teresa Hoppe on August 22, 1897 in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas....
, a South Texas artist who worked with Wood.
Sources
- Kronquist, Lawrence, Robert Wood, Gallery Brochure, Laguna Beach, California, 1973
- Gaston, Godfrey, Robert Wood Retrospective, Exhibition Catalog, Morseburg Galleries, Los Angeles, California, 1979
- Morseburg, Jeffrey, Robert Wood Centennial Exhibition, Catalog, Morseburg Galleries, Los Angeles, California, 1989
- Morseburg, Jeffrey, Robert W. Wood (1889–1979) Unpublished Essay, West Hollywood, California, 2007
- Interview with Howard E. Morseburg (b. 1924), Wood's Los Angeles Dealer, Santa Ynez, California, 2010
Book References
- Fillmore, Gary,Canyon Magic: Landmark Art from the Picerne Collection, 2010
- Dunbier, Lonnie Pierson (Editor), The Artists Bluebook: 34,000 North American Artists, 2005
- Davenport, Ray Davenport's Art Reference: The Gold Edition, 2005
- Vose, Marcia Latimore (Editor), Vose Art Notes: A Guide for Collectors, Winter 2003, Volume XI
- Hughes, Edan Milton, Artists in California: 1786-1940 (Two Volumes), 2002
- Grauer, Michael R and E. Harvey, The Eyes of Texas: The Bill and Mary Cheek Collection, 2001
- Powers, John & Deborah, Texas Painters, Sculptors & Graphic Artists: A Biographical Dictionary of Artists in Texas Before 1942, 2000
- Falk, Peter Hastings (Editor), Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975, 3 Volumes, 1999
- Grauer, Paula and Michael R., Dictionary of Texas Artists, 1800–1945, 1999
- McCann, Chris, Master Pieces: The Art History of Jigsaw Puzzles, 1998
- Southwest Art, Red Book Price Guide to Western American Art, 1997
- Jones Gallery,New Beginnings: A Group Exhibition, 1993
- Southwest Art Magazine, The Red Book: Western American Price Index,1993
- Steinfeld, Cecilia; William H. Goetzmann (Intro), Art for History's Sake The Texas Collection of the Witte Museum 1993
- Falk, Peter Hastings, Dictionary of Signatures & Monograms, 1988
- Zellman, Michael David, 300 Years of American Art, (two volumes), 1986
- Dawdy, Doris,Artists of the American West:A Biographical Dictionary (3 volumes), 1985
- Falk, Peter Hastings (Editor),Who Was Who in American Art: Artists Active Between 1898-1947
- Flume, Violet, The Last Mountain: The Life of Robert Wood, 1983
- Schimmel, Julie; Gilbert Tapley, Vincent Stark Museum of Art: The Western Collection,1978
- Samuels, Peggy and Harold, The Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West, 1976
- Museum of Texas Tech University, Selections from the Collection of Mr & Mrs Fred T Hogan, 1974
- Hagen, Raymond, Robert Wood Exhibition, 1970
External links
- Website devoted to Robert W. Wood
- http://www.porfiriosalinas.org/signatures.html Porfirio Salinas.Org, Educational Site Devoted to Wood's Student
- http://www.siskiyous.edu/shasta/art/mid.htm Mount Shasta as a Visual Resource
- http://www.texasbluebonnetpainters.com/robert_wood.html Texas Bluebonnet Painters Web Site