The Arroyo

Rendered in quick, thick brushstrokes, bright sunlight and opaque shadow cover this dry riverbed. German American landscape artist William Wendt’s fascination with the momentary effects of sunlight and his practice of plein air painting, or painting outdoors, were principles borrowed from French impressionism, pioneered by Monet. California Impressionists including Wendt applied this impressionist vision to California places and landscapes. Wendt’s subjects included the Pacific Coast at Monterey and Dana Point, the Santa Ana River, and the foothills of Mount Baldy. Here, he pictures a parched Southern California arroyo, possibly the nearby Arroyo Seco or Topanga Canyon. As today, Los Angeles at the beginning of the twentieth century grappled with the question of water supply as the city rapidly expanded in its first few decades of urbanization.