John William Joseph Winkler (California 1890 - 1979) 

Russian Hill (San Francisco), 1916

Etching

Signed in center Winkler. 

7 1/2 by 4 3/4 inches (image) 

11 1/2 by 9 inches (page) 

Excellent vintage condition. As one seller said, "The Etchings of the San Francisco Hills: In some of the etchings Winkler showed scenes he had found having special interest of a place or character that came from or related to the "Hills". Making up this group are a few etchings of Russian Hill (8 or more), of Nob Hill (3 or more), and many on Telegraph Hill (45 or more). That included etchings that are rejected, unfinished or are similar versions of others. Also, there is some overlap between etchings classified as "Early" and those classified "Hills". These etchings were made starting in 1913 and continued through 1921, with more of Telegraph Hill made from the 1930's through the 1960's. As in other etching groups, some are changed and added to later. The Telegraph Hill that Winkler knew was the poorer area that had suffered from the quarrying of rock around it as well as the difficult and unwanted hillside. He liked the dilopidated houses patched and added to and the Italian-American families who lived in them as best as they could. All combining to make a rich and lively neighborhood isolated on the rocky hill with goats and chickens in the open yards overlooking the busy wharves and bay below. This hill had changed to a different and uninteresting character by the time Winkler came back to it in 1930. He wanted to and did use his enhanced ability and sensitivity to express the character of the Hill as it was in the new etchings that would say more than he had expressed before."

From Anderson Fine Art, "hn William Joseph Winkler was born in Vienna, Austria on July 30, 1890. (The birth date of 1894 is also given by some sources). He was the son of a well-placed military family, conventional and strict. In effect, he escaped to the Wild West through a gift of money from his grandmother; and he never turned back. He crossed the country, husking corn in Nebraska, mining copper in Utah, living awhile in Los Angeles and moving finally to San Francisco, which was rebuilding from the earthquake of 1906.

He entered the Mark Hopkins Institute (later the San Francisco Institute of

Art) in 1911. Winkler has exhibited on both the East and West coasts and is most noted for his etchings of San Francisco hills, wharves and Chinatown as well as of the

East Bay.

For eight years (1922-1930) he worked and exhibited in Europe. These exhibits included etchings of London and France, pencil drawings of French cathedrals and pen and ink drawings of French people and of the French countryside.

Winkler returned to the United States (1932) and completed the plate and edition for the George Washington Bicentennial which included 75 drawings of historic figures.

He completed a set of conte crayon drawings of trees and mountains and collected California Sierra woods, and made carved and decorated boxes (collection called "Sierra Nevadiana") and he made gold jewelry boxes by the "lost wax" process. He also completed a set of Christmas etchings and a set of miniature farm scenes.

Winkler drew many of the early plates directly on the copper plate at the scene. He used nitric acid exclusively for his etch, pouring it on the plate and moving it around for varying line depth and intensity (mixture one part nitric acid, two parts water). There is no aquatint or ink left on the surface in printing - they are pure line etchings. His editions were small and he used rag paper to achieve permanence.

The artist produced over 300 etching plates during his lifetime, hundreds of drawings, jewelry pieces and 200 hand carved and decorated wood boxes (no screws for hinges!!). In 1976 over 40 never published plates were finished and small editions printed.

He died in El Cerrito, California on January 26, 1979.

Honors - Awards

Elected N.A., National Academy of Design

Honorary Member, California Society of Printmakers

Life Member, San Francisco Art Association

Member, Society of American Graphics Artists

Three times Logan Prize Winner

One-Man Shows

Arnheim Kunstzall, The Netherlands

Boston Museum

Chicago Art Institute

deYoung Museum, San Francisco

Fine Arts Society, London

Galeria Guiot, Paris

Keppels, New York

New York Public Library

Press Center, Seoul, Korea

San Francisco Museum of Art

Triton Museum, Santa Clara

Marci Thomas Gallery, 1971, 1974

Richmond Art Center, 1973, 1974

Van Straaten Gallery, Chicago, 1972

Walton Gallery, San Francisco, 1974

June I Gallery, Washington, 1975

Bank of America Gallery, San Francisco, 1976

Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1973

The Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1979

Group Shows

National Academy of Design, New York

Oklahoma Print and Drawing Invitational

Philadelphia Print Club

San Francisco Art Association

Sao Paulo Biennial

Society of American Graphics Artists

United States Cultural Exchange - Prints for France

Wiggin Tour of Museums of Israel

Collections (most in archives and not on view, needs to be confirmed still holding as of 2003)

Achenbach Foundation, San Francisco

Cleveland Museum

National Collection of Fine Arts

Art Institute of Chicago

Bibiotheque Nationale, Paris

Boston Public Library

Library of Congress

Luxembourg, Paris

Metropolitan Museum, New York

National Museum, Israel

New York Public Library

Oakland Art Museum

San Francisco Museum of Art

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Zora Museum, Sweden

Smithsonian Institution

San Francisco Public Library

Commissions

American College Society of Print Collectors

Brooklyn Society of Etchers (S.A.G.A.)

Chicago Society of Etchers

Gazette de Beaux Art

George Washington Bicentennial, 1932

San Francisco Art Commission, 1972