Wendell Jones White Horse oil on canvas 16 h x 19.875 w in (41 x 50 cm) Proceeds from these works will benefit The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. Signed to lower left 'Wendell Jones'. Provenance: The Estate of Gwendolyn D. Cafritz, Washington, DC This work will ship from Lambertville, New Jersey.
Medium: Oil Support: Canvas Artist: Wendell Jones Artist Dates: 1899 - 1956 Country of Origin: United States of America Title & Description: Painting depicts a small town likely in the Hudson Valley with smoke rising. Signature: Signed lower right Date of Work: C. 1945 Frame: Original Work Size: 24" H x 30" W Frame Size: 31" H x 36" W x 1" D Weight: 8 pounds Condition: Re-lined, Minor in-paint on tree and in sky. Meta: painting, art Artist Biography: WPA and Woodstock New York artist . Wendell Jones was born in Galena KS served in WW I and after the war graduated from Dartmouth College and studied at the Student’s Art League in New York with Allan Tucker and Kenneth Hayes Miller. He moved to Woodstock, NY and taught at Vassar College from 1948 until his death. He became known for his murals, which often featured majestic horses. He lived for ten years next to Hervey White, who founded the socialist arts colony Maverick near Woodstock, New York. Faced with overwhelming expenses, White decided that the growing Woodstock area art community would willingly pay to participate in an event that would become the annual Maverick Festival. The late historian Alf Evers described the Festival: â€aeHervey wanted a Festival that would make use of music, dancing, pageantry, picnicking around campfires, dressing up in fantastic costumes, selling craft objects and food at booths as in Old World fairs, and in the display of artists' skills and imagination in banners hung from trees and buildings.â€The dramatic Wendell Jones banner is a singular survivor of the Festivals, where most of the decorations were makeshift and ephemeral.Artist posthumous exhibit Title: EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS BY WENDELL JONES 1899-1956. Vassar College Art Gallery / February 5 - March 5, 1957. Post Office Murals:Johnson City, TN Post Office The Johnson City mural is now located over the entrance to the auditorium on the campus of East TN State University in Johnson City. It is entitled â€aeFarmer Familyâ€. It was installed in the old Post Office on September 9, 1940. Wendell Jones from Woodstock NY was the artist.Also Granville, Ohio Post Office mural titled first pulpit in Granville.Also Rome New York: This Section of Fine Arts mural entitled â€aeBarn Raising†was painted by Wendell Jones in 1942 for the then Rome, New York post office. It now hangs in the Rome City Hall.Paper held by the Archives of American Art bequest by his widow include:Collection Summary: Letters, undated and 1937-1961, mostly dealing with Jones' mural in the Rome, N.Y. Post Office, done for the Section of Fine Arts; correspondence with Edward Bruce, Forbes Watson, Juliana Force, Edward Rowan, and Eugene Speicher; photographs of Jones, his family, his paintings, and of other Woodstock area artists including Philip Guston, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Harry Burlin, Herman Cherry, Marion Greenwood, Raoul Hague, Fletcher Martin, and Dorothy Varian; a contract, 1940, for a the Post Office mural; and other business records including check stubs, vouchers and receipts.Also included are a manuscript by Jones entitled "Article of Faith" for MAGAZINE OF ART, October, 1940; a scrapbook of clippings; and exhibition catalogs, 1957-1969, a press release, 1938, and several clippings, 1933-1948. An exhibit at Vassar college during his life is reported here: + - Why may this text contain mistakes?Wendell Jones, Whose Paintings Are On Exhibit In Taylor Hall Discusses His Objectives, Describes His Artistic Backgroundby Nola Spiero '52by Libbie Frommer '52Wendell Jones, who teaches painting at Vassar and whose exhibit is currently being shown at Taylor Hall will give a gallery talk on his work tomorrow. December 1 at 4:40. in the lower gallery of Taylor Hall. As we interviewed him about his work, he seemed to be evaluating it. not merely mouthing personal dogma. He feels that his work is in a constant state of change and this exhibition does not mark the finish of a period or of many periods. We felt that he was concerned with looking always for new ways to put an idea on canvas, and found a refreshing lack of complacency in his attitude towards his work. He told us that each canvas on exhibit seemed like the "true reality" of his perceptions when it was being painted, since it complemented his mood and temperament at the time. But as his mood changed, so did his approach to the subject matter, and a new kind of reality had to be created. In some of the paintings, Mr. Jones was concerned with breaking away from the concepts of his early art training. The emphasis had been on overly-modelled forms, requiring him to grind out the traditional pencil reproductions of works shown in class, along with countless "plastic whirling schemes." His outdoor sketching, and its resulting semiimpressionistic landscapes, was an attempt to rid himself of the effects of some of his former plastic training.The fresco sketches of historical situations do not have the muralesque quality which Mr. Jones would have liked. This, he explained, is due to the fact that they had to be small, since only a limited time was given for their completion. Thus, the monumentality of mural work had to be sacrificed. Contemporary Concepts Mr. Jones spoke of two schools of painting which are present today. One conceives of art as developing from art. or that the qualities inherent in an object being painted, rather than the materials of the artist, will determine a work of art. In this case, the artist becomes a slave to the object. The other school ignores nature to create art. Mr. Jones agrees with this precept but reminded us that in order to "ignore" nature it is necessary to make careful studies and learn a great deal before imposing any simplification on what has been seen. He repeated a principle stated by Abraham Rattner â€"that when we see something in nature which moves us or appeals to us. we should sketch and study first to keep from making the mistake of abstracting immediately, which, as Mr. Jones added, often gets you in thin soup. Mr. Jones criticized the work of some contemporary artists who use the technique of abstracting to produce paintings with no recognizable forms and evasive titles. In these cases, the abstract form has not originated from the impactof the idea and the necessity of putting it down on canvas, but rather for the general appearance that an abstraction presents. Most Recent Work In his most recent work. Mr. Jones has been going through a phase of using color in a repressed register and eliminating the use of local color. He is turning away from the high-keyed intensity of Matisse, which at one time impressed and influenced him. Now, he is working with color that vibrates, but on a considerably lower key than previously. He said that although he works directly from nature and then simplifies, natural forms are always present to some extent in his painting, since he finds enjoyment in them which he can't reject. Mr. Jones feels that neither attenuated, formless painting, rigid geometric designs nor extremely introspective work are appropriate to his needs at present. Important elements in his latest paintings are planes and what he calls "elegant line" (the line is expressive of the mood of the painting, and Is treated as a design factor, not merely as an outline), both of which he wants to continue using. Mr. Jones also kept in mind the contemporary concept of relating the design of a painting to the picture plane itself (the flat surface of the canvas). The chalk sketch of a woman at a window is an example of his greater use of planes in space, which come in contact with the surface of the picture continually, never going so farback that they create an infinite distance. We left the studio with the pleasant sensation of having talked to an artist who is willing to verbalize about his methods and objectives, and who expresses himself with clarity as well. Wendell Jones ExhibitIn the exhibit of murals and easel paintings of Wendell Jones, talent as well as versatility is evident. Before 1943, Mr. Jones painted some murals for the government, some of which are included in the collection on view. His easel paintings seem far more fascinating, however. From early water color and pen drawings to his more recent still lifes, his technique develops visually. His contemporary works show a sophistication of mood through vivid contrasts of movement and color. "Landscape with Salamander" appears puzzling but at the same time delightful in its satire and originality. "Flowers and Bantam Rooster" exploits the still life technique of precision that is more sophisticated than the earlier linear drawings. Lively and exciting in its color contrasts it exempli-lies Mr. Jones' refreshing originality. His is a creative and Interesting exhibit. Prior to his coming to Vassar, Mr. Jones received his B.A. at Dartmouth and studied in New York, and at the mural studio of Hildreth Meiere. He was awarded mural commissions by the government under the direction of the Works Progress Administration. His mural conceptions firmly established him as a muralist and this first rate easel painting exhibit should serve to justify his position as an artist as well as a teacher.This description compiled by Louis J Dianni, to reuse credit line should read: by Louis J. Dianni, Louis J. Dianni, LLC.
Wendell Jones (American, 1899-1956) "Harvest Nite Ball Mural," c.1949, oil on un-stretched canvas, signed lower right, 66.25" x 28.5",unframed. Jones was an important member of the Woodstock, New York art community. This banner is referenced in the "Ulster County News and Kingston Leader," as selling to Peter Whitehead, son of thefounders of the Byrdcliffe Arts & Crafts Colony, at an auction at the annual Woodstock Artists Association Ball on September 3, 1949. The mural remained in the family until 2010.
Wendel Cooley Jones (American 1899-1956) Rural Farm Landscape and Figures Walking Outside a Town: Two Works Each signed Wendel Jones l.r. Each pen and ink drawing with watercolor on paper; apparently in good condition, except for mat toning. Framed.* Largest sight size: 7-1/2 x 17-1/4 in (19.1 x 43.8 cm)
