87 Live Oak in the Landscape

SOLD
Winning Bid Undisclosed
This item SOLD at 2015 Apr 11 @ 10:54UTC-7 : PDT/MST
Category Western Americana
Auction Currency USD
Start Price NA
Estimated at 18,000.00 - 24,000.00 USD
Live Oak in the Landscape
Artist: Salinas, PorfirioDate of Birth: 1910-1973
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 25 x 30 inches
Signed: Signed lower left

Porfirio Salinas was one of the first Americans of Mexican ancestry to become a successful painter. Born in the small town of Bastrop, Texas, near Austin, Salinas moved to San Antonio with his parents when they decided to give up farming and seek a better life. But the Texas Hill Country remained fresh in SalinasÕs mind and throughout his life he would return there to paint along the banks of the Rio Grande. In San Antonio, young PorfirioÕs interest in art was matched only by his indifference to school.When he was 15, Salinas got a job in an art supply store. While there, he met artist Robert Wood, who quickly hired him as an assistant. From Wood, Salinas learned the basics, but it was his association with Jose Arpa that brought an academic polish to the young artistÕs technique. Like Wood and Arpa, Salinas often painted bluebonnets, the lupins that explode with color in the Texas hills. Salinas struggled for years, but when a young Texas Congressman named Lyndon Johnson began to collect his work, he found himself on a trajectory that would see his paintings in Washington and, eventually, the White House. Live Oak in the Landscape foregrounds a ÒBlue Brick RoadÓ of bluebonnets weaving around and down the slope, toward the distant green hills, covered with a scrim of spring haze. The live oak at left, however, dominates the painting. An evergreen tree, the live oak is known for its ornamental beauty, its shade, its resilience, its medicinal qualities and for its density, which makes it particularly useful for shipbuilding. It is a symbol of Texas and the American South.