Back to nature’s temple

The art colony of Laguna Beach had its roots in landscape painting, and no one was more preeminent in the field than William Wendt, who spent his life bringing nature indoors in breathtaking works that are highly prized today.

Wendt, a Laguna resident for about 30 years, co-founded the Laguna Beach Art Assn. in 1918 — which in turn opened a gallery that eventually became the Laguna Art Museum.

To celebrate its 90th anniversary, the museum is exhibiting the first major retrospective of Wendt’s work — a luminous collection of 60 paintings culled from many collectors and museums that fills the entire ground floor.

The show, titled, “In Nature’s Temple,� opens to the public Sunday.

The exhibit is curated by Will South, curator at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio, who wrote a seminal work, “California Impressionists,� about the California landscape movement of which Wendt was a prime part.

  Dominant figure

Wendt was one of California’s most well-respected painters, especially within the insular world of artists, South said.

“William Wendt stands out as someone who needs to be looked at, for his work and his leadership in the art world,� South said. “He was a dominant figure, and highly influential. When he was president of the California Art Assn., for instance, he opened it up to women for the first time. Other artists followed him.�

In the early part of the last century Laguna Beach was already considered an art colony, with some noted landscape painters on the scene, including Frank Cuprien, Anna Hills, Alice Fullerton and Edgar Payne.

With Wendt, they founded an art association dedicated to fostering their careers and creating a sense of community between the artists and residents, according to “A History of the Laguna Art Museum 1918-1993,� published in conjunction with the museum’s 75th anniversary.

  Disciplined artist

Wendt was a highly disciplined and conservative painter, who focused intently on perfecting his technique, South said. He painted in “plein air� — out-of-doors — to capture the endless variety of color and light found in nature, but completed his larger paintings in the studio.

South said he selected works for the show that display the variety of Wendt’s landscapes. There are scenes from Crystal Cove and Laguna’s Coast Highway, and also scenics of Malibu and Europe.

What there are not are cities, people, animals or many buildings.

When Wendt included structures in his works — such as cottages or country roads — they tended to be “nestled in the landscape� and do not dominate, South noted.

  ‘Endless variety’

An emphasis on natural beauty was Wendt’s hallmark, and this is evident in the paintings exhibited at the museum.

“I wanted to show the endless variety and complexity of Wendt’s landscapes, how they portray nature in all its moods,� South said.

Wendt’s life was devoted to painting landscapes that the viewer can walk around in and experience as if out in a field of moonlight — or sunlight.

He never painted still-lifes, and rejected modernism entirely, calling it “a defilement,� South said.

“He was very strident about the purpose of art,� South said. “Art is revelation, nature is a temple, and the artist edits out a piece of nature to give the viewer an experience of it.�

  A master painter

Wendt was a master painter who could have gone the route of many other highly successful artists and become a society portrait painter or commercial artist, but he chose not to.

“He had an overarching faith and was clear in his belief that art should be healthful, and our role should be humble,� South said. “Man is secondary.�

He died in Laguna Beach in 1946, having spent his prime years in the city, after moving to Laguna in 1917 from Los Angeles, where he had a gallery.

South postulates that Wendt may have wanted to escape anti-German sentiment during World War I by moving to the fledgling art colony he was familiar with from painting excursions.

  Spiritual quest

Wendt, like his plein air peers, focused on California, but South says it is a mistake to consider him a “regional painter.�

For Wendt, painting was a spiritual quest, a way to convey the perfection of nature. The fact that Wendt paintings rarely include human beings was “a conscious choice� of the painter, South said.

“Wendt believed that art created a bridge between the viewer and a transcendent experience of nature,� South said.

“He was like a preacher; he wanted to give something to the viewer that is morally beneficial, to say, ‘This is how we live; this is our sanctuary,’� South said. “He actually spoke in those terms.�

A strict Lutheran who was born in Germany, Wendt converted to Catholicism just before he died, perhaps as a way to feel connected after death to his artist wife, Julia Bracken Wendt, who preceded him in death and was an Irish Catholic, South said.

  Early environmentalist

One-hundred years after many of Wendt’s paintings were created, they convey a message today that South says is more timely than ever — an early precursor of modern-day environmentalism.

“His point of view of nature is a useful one; his respect for it is affirming,� South said. “This idea of nature as central, as a sanctuary, is still relevant, and his legacy as a master painter is part of California’s art history.�

South will lead a walk-through of the show at 1 p.m. Sunday.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “In Nature’s Temple: The Life and Art of William Wendt�

WHERE: Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Dr., Laguna Beach

WHEN: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, open daily, through Feb. 8

TOUR: Curator Will South will give a walk-through of the exhibition at 1 p.m. Sunday.

COST: $10 adult admission; free on First Thursday’s Art Walk nights

CALL: (949) 494-8971

CINDY FRAZIER is city editor of the Coastline Pilot. She can be contacted at (949) 494-2087 or [email protected].