WILLIAM MCKENDREE SNYDER
American, 1848-1930
Beech Woods in Autumn
Oil on canvas, signed lower left
13 7/8" H x 19 7/8" W x 2" D [frame]
10 1/4" H x 16 1/4" W [canvas]
This oil on canvas depicts an interior woodland view in late autumn, with a dense stand of beech trees rendered in warm ochres and russet tones. The composition is structured around a shallow forest floor, carpeted with fallen leaves and punctuated by exposed roots and a fallen trunk, drawing the eye into the depth of the scene. The handling of paint emphasizes surface texture and tonal contrast rather than broad atmospheric effects, resulting in a tightly observed, intimate landscape. The painting is housed in its original period frame.
William McKendree Snyder (1848–1930) was an American painter active in Indiana and southern Ohio from the mid-nineteenth century through the early twentieth century. He was born in Liberty, Indiana in 1849 to a Methodist minister and spent his childhood in Vevay, Indiana, before settling in Madison where he remained living and working for most of his life.
At the age of twelve, Snyder enlisted as a drummer boy in the Union Army. After the war, he pursued formal artistic training, studying in Cincinnati under James H. Beard (often cited in local sources as J. Insco Williams), and later undertook study in the East. His documented instructors include William Morris Hunt in Boston, and he is recorded as having studied under Jules Bastien-Lepage, Alfred Stevens, and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot during periods of travel and study in Europe, though the exact dates of his European instruction are not fully documented.
By the early 1870s, Snyder had returned to Indiana and was active professionally. In 1870, he worked in Columbus, Indiana, where he entered the photographic business with his brother R. W. Snyder, remaining there until 1872. After this period, he returned to Madison and committed himself fully to painting. In 1875, he married Allena Belle Rodocker, and thereafter remained based in Madison.
Snyder exhibited regularly during the late nineteenth century. Documented works from this period include Pickets at the Block, The Battle of Shiloh, The Nymph of the Lilies (formerly at the Gibson House), and Ophelia, owned in the nineteenth century by Mrs. Hilda Weaser of Madison. Portraits by Snyder included likenesses of Mrs. Daniel A. Farley and members of his own family. Portraits of his parents were recorded as being owned by his nephew, Frank R. Snyder of Oxford, Ohio.
From the 1880s onward, Snyder increasingly focused on landscape painting, particularly views of southern Indiana, Brown County, and the Ohio River Valley. He is documented as one of the earliest painters working regularly in Brown County, Indiana, a region that later became closely associated with landscape painting. His landscapes were frequently exhibited and sold in Cincinnati and southern Indiana, and he earned his living largely through the sale of these works.
Snyder remained active into the early twentieth century, continuing to paint and exhibit regional landscapes. He spent the final decades of his life in Madison, Indiana, where he died in 1930, shortly before his eighty-first birthday. His work is associated with the late nineteenth-century development of professional painting in Indiana, and his career is documented primarily through regional exhibitions, private patronage, and local historical records.
Condition: Fine original condition, unlined. Light craquelure throughout. Surface appears to be free of restoration when viewed under UV. Retains the original frame (restoration/discoloration left upper edge, other spots of inpaint and restoration to frame). Ready to place.
ref. 512KMB20A
