{"product_id":"l-j-wenner-1942-clay-road-pennsylvania-landscape","title":"Vintage American Oil on Board Pennsylvania Landscape | \"Clay Road\" Signed L.J. Wenner 1942","description":"\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eA small Pennsylvania landscape from November 1942 — \u003cem\u003eClay Road, Near Easton, Pennsylvania\u003c\/em\u003e, signed and dated lower right by \u003cstrong\u003eL.J. Wenner\u003c\/strong\u003e, an Allentown, Pennsylvania painter who was serving with the U.S. Army Medical Detachment at Fort Myer, Virginia, when he made this picture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe composition is the autumnal Lehigh Valley at its most painterly: a country road curving up between dark cedars on the left, a small white-painted Pennsylvania farmhouse half-glimpsed behind the tree line, a single ochre-leaved deciduous tree holding the center of the canvas like a struck match against the deep evergreen mass behind it, the distant blue ridge of the Pennsylvania highlands beyond. Painterly impasto throughout — the foreground road built up in confident knife-strokes, the central tree's golden foliage worked into dimensional thickness against the sky. Pennsylvania regional landscape painting in its working tradition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Verso Label\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eA typed period paper label is affixed to the back of the board:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\"#12 \/ Media: Oil \/ Title: 'Clay Road' \/ Where: Near Easton, Penna. \/ When: November, 1942 \/ Size: 12\" × 16\" \/ Who: L.J. Wenner, 1017½ Tilghman Street, Allentown, Penna. \/ Hq. \u0026amp; Hq. Co. (Med. Det.), 2525 Service Unit, South Post, Fort Myer, Virginia\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe label tells us that Wenner kept a personal numbered inventory of his works — this was his \u003cstrong\u003epiece #12\u003c\/strong\u003e — and that he was actively painting his hometown Lehigh Valley landscape during his wartime service. The line marked \u003cem\u003e\"Where Exhibited\"\u003c\/em\u003e is left blank.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Pennsylvania Regional Landscape Tradition\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe painting belongs to the broader Pennsylvania regional landscape tradition that flourished in the Lehigh Valley through the 1940s and 1950s — an Allentown extension of Pennsylvania Impressionism centered on the \u003cstrong\u003eBaum Circle\u003c\/strong\u003e around Walter Emerson Baum, founder of the Baum School of Art and the Allentown Art Museum. Wenner is not a documented Baum Circle member, but his work belongs to the same regional landscape tradition that defined the artistic life of his immediate neighborhood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Frame\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eThe frame is original to the work — gilt-finished with distressed corner ornaments, the gilding worn down to red bole and wood beneath at the high points in the warm decorator-prized way that period gilt frames acquire only with time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003ePainting sound on board with painterly impasto intact. Signature legible. Verso label intact and fully legible. Frame original to the work with honest period wear to the gilding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDetails\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eArtist: L.J. Wenner (American, Allentown, Pennsylvania, active 1940s) Title: \u003cem\u003e\"Clay Road\"\u003c\/em\u003e Subject: Pennsylvania landscape, near Easton, Pennsylvania Date: November 1942 Medium: Oil on board Signature: Signed and dated lower right \u003cem\u003e\"L.J. Wenner '42\"\u003c\/em\u003e Verso: Detailed period typed paper label with title, date, location, dimensions, artist's address (1017½ Tilghman Street, Allentown, PA) and military unit (Hq. \u0026amp; Hq. Co. Med. Det., 2525 Service Unit, South Post, Fort Myer, VA) Board: 12 × 16 in. Framed: 14 × 17½ in. Frame: Original gilt-finished period frame with distressed corner ornaments\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"font-claude-response-body break-words whitespace-normal leading-[1.7]\"\u003eValley House Antiques · Chester Springs, Pennsylvania\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Valley House Antiques","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46994676220057,"sku":null,"price":495.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0721\/1270\/1593\/files\/IMG_6901.jpg?v=1777311757","url":"https:\/\/valleyhouseantiques.com\/products\/l-j-wenner-1942-clay-road-pennsylvania-landscape","provider":"Valley House Antiques","version":"1.0","type":"link"}