Reynold Henry Weidenaar

1915 - 1985

American (Grand Rapids, Michigan - Grand Rapids, Michigan)

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1915, Reynold Henry Weidenaar was an American printmaker who specialized in copper etching and intaglio. He took up printmaking while studying at the Kendall School of Design at the Kansas City Art Institute from 1938 to 1940. After receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1944, Weidenaar traveled to Mexico, deriving inspiration from the unfamiliar
landscape so far from his home in Michigan. He also received a Louis Comfort Tiffany scholarship in 1949. Weidenaar achieved success and acclaim in the 1940s, enjoying many awards and selling enough to support himself through his art. An extremely dedicated printmaker, he even designed and created the tools that he used for his works. Although he most often used copper etching and intaglio processes to create his work, Weidenaar at one point took up the less common mezzotint printmaking and, later in his life, worked in watercolors. Part of the American Regionalism movement in art, Weidenaar was dedicated to accurately depict life around his West Michigan home, from small towns to larger cities.