Dalhart Windberg
Dalhart Windberg was born in 1933 in Goliad County, Texas. His eighth grade teacher encouraged his parents to find training for him. He was allowed training with a nun at a local convent. 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 Mexico, Spain and Greece; but it is his American landscape work that has captured the imagination of collectors. He also travels to the western United States to paint the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. He frequently wanders around his home state, focusing on the state favorite--bluebonnets. These paintings have a universal appeal in that they evoke feelings of peace and a vision of natural harmony in the midst of our modern chaotic world. Windberg is a romantic realist whose works embody a strenuous, lifelong devotion to his art. He paints whatever strikes his fancy, working from photographs, his travels, and his experiences, and bringing his mood into the setting. The lighting employed distinguishes each of his paintings. Each scene that he paints magnifies a sense of natural light. Windberg prefers the morning and evening light, but he will also use seasonal light to repaint a place that he has been at different times of the year. He has had numerous one-man shows and his paintings are in many corporate and private collections. 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. Windberg and his work have been featured in many publications, including Southwest Art, U.S. Art, and Collectors Mart. Over a million reproductions of Windberg`s paintings have been collected in the U.S. and Canada, attesting to the popularity of his work. In addition to his painting career, Windberg continues to teach workshops across the country and develops new materials for artists. In 1967, Windberg quit teaching to paint full time. Windberg was the sole artist of the American Masters Foundation, and seven years later he was named Texas State Artist. Between 1971 and 1978, 57 images of Windberg paintings had been published and, today, many of his limited edition prints are sold out. Dalhart Windberg and his wife Evelyn live and work in Georgetown, Texas just north of Austin.