In the 110 years since, bluebonnet paintings are loved around the world, and San Antonio artist Julian Onderdonk is widely regarded as the father of bluebonnet painters. President George W. Bush had three of Onderdonk’s paintings hung in the Oval Office. Many of Onderdonk’s paintings are on exhibit at the Witte Museum in San Antonio.
Stand-outs, who became world renown for their Texas landscapes with bluebonnets, were Robert Wood in the l920’s and l930’s and Porfirio Salinas in the l940’s and l950’s. In his youth, it has been said that Salinas helped Wood by filling in bluebonnets on Wood’s canvases. Robert Wood bluebonnet prints were so popular they were almost standard equipment above Texans’ living room couches. (We had one hanging in our living room at Big Sandy.) Wood eventually swore off bluebonnets and moved to California.
Porfirio Salinas, however, continued painting bluebonnets and Texas landscapes until his death and, along the way, he became the favorite artist of President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Texas Governor John B. Connally. He was one of the first Mexican-American artists to be nationally recognized, and his paintings can be found in the Texas State Capitol, the Governor’s Mansion, and in museums and private homes throughout the country.
Salinas was born on November 6, 1910 in Bastrop to a family of tenant farmers. His father left the farm when Porfirio was a child, and the family later joined him in San Antonio. He attended public schools in San Antonio where teachers encouraged him. His family also recognized his talent early on. He always had fond memories of his teachers. He remembered that once his class was given an assignment, and not knowing how to do the work, Salinas began drawing on his tablet. Instead of punishing him, his teacher praised his drawing and called him “an artist.” He liked the recognition and continued to work hard for it in and out of school.
A number of his early paintings are still hanging in elementary schools where he attended. However, Salinas left school when he was about 13 to help support his family. One of his first jobs was in an art supply store where he met Robert Wood. In 1925, Salinas went to work in Wood’s studio where he learned the basics of professional painting. He stretched canvasses for Wood, learned to frame paintings and mix paints. Salinas also accompanied Wood on sketching trips around San Antonio. Because of his talent and hard work, Salinas was very soon capable of professional work.
Porforio Salinas also had very deep roots in Austin, and early in his career, he was discovered by Dewey Bradford, owner of Bradford Paint Store at the corner of Ninth Street and Colorado. Bradford was his agent for over thirty years, and their relationship opened many doors for the artist. Bradford introduced Salinas to Lady Bird Johnson. While LBJ was Vice President, the Johnsons purchased a large home in Washington which they decorated with Salinas’s paintings. Mrs. Johnson is quoted as saying that “I want to see Texas when I open the door, to remind me of where I come from.”
When LBJ became President, the Johnsons moved their Salinas paintings into the White House, and the President told the Washington press that Porfirio Salinas was his favorite artist. President Johnson also presented Salinas paintings to the President of Mexico and the King of Spain and numerous other world figures as official state gifts. The Johnson Salinas paintings are at the LBJ Ranch today.
Salinas died in l973. His professional career stretched more than 40 years, and he is estimated to have painted about three thousand works. He was memorialized in the City of Austin by Porfirio Salinas Day in l973. There is a Salinas Art Exhibition each year in Bastrop. The Witte Museum also held an exhibition entitled Porfirio Salinas: Painting South Texas to celebration the centennial of his birth. This wildly popular exhibit ran from October 2010 to March, 2011.
Laura Joseph
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