Heinie Hartwig (B 1937) American, Oil on Canvas. Original painting of wildflowers on a hillside. Signed bottom right. 

Overall: 42 X 42 in. 

Sight: 39 1/2 X 40 in. 

#2746 . 

Heinie Hartwig was born in the Santa Clara Valley in 1937. His childhood there and his travels around Northern California left a deep impression on him, an appreciation for nature and a fascination with the Old West and the indigenous people who originally called it home. In the late 1950s he joined the United States Army as a way to see Europe, and met a woman named Eva in Germany. Witnessing the construction of the Berlin Wall, he became interested in concrete pouring, and convinced Eva to leave East Germany as his wife. Back in Santa Clara he used his new skills to work in construction for the next decade, and devoted his free time to athletic pursuits, at one point holding a California record for marathon running in 1964. Some time in the late 1960s he began to attend art museums and study the work of “Old Masters,” feeding a growing fascination with color and light. In 1970 he started painting in the evenings after work, and one year later he was able to quit his concrete pouring job and financially support his family solely with art. Hartwig became convinced that strength, durability and long lasting sharpness of color are created with the use of “Old World” color formulas. The overall results of his experimentation led to numerous commendations and awards, including the Triton Museum Competition. Hartwig’s works are displayed at Brigham Young University, Mills College, and the Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies. His quality is astounding, given his late development and being completely self-taught, and is often compared to the work of Albert Bierstadt and John Constable. His western-themed landscapes and still lifes primarily carry a Romantic tone, and the European aesthetics in his paintings have made them highly sought after by international collectors as well as those seeking works from the California School. He earned a place in “Who’s Who in American Art” in 1991, and continues to paint and teach to this day.