Dalhart Windberg (born 1933 in

Goliad County, Texas Goliad County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population is 7,012. Its county seat is Goliad. The county is named for Father Miguel Hidalgo; "Goliad" is an anagram, minus the silent H. The county ...

) is an American

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

known for his use of light, color, and shadow in

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

and

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

paintings. Windberg was named for a popular entertainer of the day,

Vernon Dalhart Marion Try Slaughter (April 6, 1883 – September 14, 1948), better known by his stage name Vernon Dalhart, was an American country music singer and songwriter. His recording of the classic ballad " Wreck of the Old 97" was the first country son ...

. He was in the

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

and did a tour of duty in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In 1967, he quit working in order to paint full-time. A Texas native, Windberg began to attract national attention in the 1960s. He studied under the Texas painter Simon Michael. Windberg was determined to paint like the masters, so he developed a way to have a smooth surface by using diluted modeling paste to prepare his painting surface. By using this technique he could duplicate the look of the masters without spending as much time on each painting. He has executed romantic still lifes and figurative oil paintings depicting life in Texas, Mexico, Spain and Greece. There are hundreds of his original paintings and thousands of his reproduced prints and

giclée Giclée ( ) describes Digital printing, digital prints intended as fine art and produced by inkjet printers. The term is a neologism, ultimately derived from the French language, French word ''gicleur,'' coined in 1991 by Printmaking, printmaker ...

s in circulation dating back to the late 1960s. His art is very collectable and has adorned the walls of people not just in Texas but all over the world. Much of his art reflects his travels around

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

, the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

, many

National Parks A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

such as

Yellowstone Yellowstone National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located in the northwest corner of Wyoming, with small portions extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U ...

, the

Grand Tetons The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It extends for approximately in a north–south direction through the U.S. state of Wyoming, east of the Idaho state line. It is south of Yellowstone National Park, ...

, and Glacier National Park as well as

Monument Valley Monument Valley (, , meaning "valley of the rocks") is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of sandstone buttes, with the largest reaching above the valley floor. The most famous butte formations are located in northeas ...

. His

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

paintings emulate his travels to parts of

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. His art has encapsulated scenery including fields of bluebonnets, working cattlemen, mountain lakeside cabins, roaming buffalo and deer, streams in the mountains, snow-covered barns, night-lit farmlands, lonely windmills, coastal lighthouses, candlelit wine glasses, small fishing vessels, and other dreamlike spectacles. Two biographies have been written about the artist: in ''The Paths of the Masters'', published in 1978, and ''Dalhart Windberg - Artist of Texas'', published by the University of Texas Press in 1984. Its title was bestowed on the artist by the state legislature in 1979. He has also written a book describing his "smooth surface" technique of oil painting. Along with his sons Michael and Richard Windberg, Dalhart Windberg works in Georgetown, Texas at the Windberg Art Center. Windberg and his son Michael teach art classes, in the same manner as Windberg learned from his instructor Simon Michael. Students travel from all over the country just to get a glimpse of how Windberg paints, many of whom return time and time again, learning something new each time. Windberg has also created a line of fine art products tailored to his style of fine brush and palette knife oil painting, all of which is based on his many years of experience. Windberg and his wife Evelyn live and work in

Georgetown, Texas Georgetown is a city in Texas and the county seat of Williamson County, Texas, United States. The population was 67,176 at the 2020 census, and according to 2024 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 101,344. It is no ...

References

Notes

Sources

University of TexasSouthwest Gallery

External links

Windberg Art Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windberg, Dalhart 1933 births Living people People from Goliad County, Texas Artists from Texas People from Georgetown, Texas