Wilson, Wendell E.
Wendell Eugene Wilson was born in Minnesota in 1946, and began collecting minerals in 1956. A life-long artist, he studied at the Minneapolis Institute of Art while still in high school and began selling his artworks as a young teenager. He won numerous awards in art, including first place in a statewide cartooning competition in 1959. In college he pursued a double-major in Fine Art and Geology at the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1969. He earned his M.S. in Mineralogy (1972) from Arizona State University, while field-collecting extensively in Arizona's many abandoned mines and famous mineral localities. After obtaining his PhD in Mineralogy (1976) from the University of Minnesota, he was hired by the Mineralogical Record as full-time Editor and eventually rose to the positions of Editor-in-Chief, Publisher and corporation CEO.
In addition to collecting minerals, Wilson has built substantial collections of mining artifacts of all kinds, and published four books on antique miners' lamps, containing hundreds of hand-drawn pen-and-ink illustrations of miners' oil-wick “frog” lamps, candleholders, and carbide cap lamps. Some of his collectibles appear as props in his paintings of underground scenes. His first mineral painting appeared on the cover of the November-December 1972 issue of Mineralogical Record. His series of fantasy mineral-collecting scenes now numbers 14, and he has produced numerous specimen portraits in oil on canvas, watercolor, India ink and mixed media, as well as a number of highly detailed mining still life paintings in oil on canvas, oil on copper, and India ink.
Over the years Wilson has continued to produce artworks regularly as time permits. He has published over 1,000 mineral and mining artworks, and over 6,500 mineral photographs. His publications include over 270 journal articles in mineralogy, over 400 shorter works (book reviews, etc.), and nearly 2,000 biographies of mineralogists and other people in the mineral world. He also founded the Antiquarian Reprint Series as a method of preserving and distributing very rare, early illustrated mineral books, featuring mineral art from before the age of photography.
The new mineral species wendwilsonite was named in his honor in 1987; he was elected a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America in 1989; he was presented with the Carnegie Mineralogical Award for 2001 (“in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of mineralogy”); and his mineral collection won the Paul E. Desautels Memorial Trophy (the highest honor in mineral collecting) in 2013. Wilson continues to publish the Mineralogical Record and to write about, paint, research, photograph and collect minerals in Tucson, Arizona (e-mail: minrecord@comcast.net).
References:
Mitchell, R. S. (1988) Who's who in mineral names: Wendell Eugene Wilson, Jr. and Ignacio Domeyko. Rocks & Minerals, 63, 400-402.
Robinson, S. (1987) Mineral art today. Rocks & Minerals, 62, 328-343.
Robinson, S. (1987) Of mines and men: a look at art that depicts mining. Rocks & Minerals, 64, 476-495.
Rosicler Oscuro de Taxco de Alarcon
Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 inches (1999). Painted in the style of the 17th-century Spanish still-life painters, from a 2-inch cluster of pyrargyrite crystals from Taxco, Mexico, in the Terry Wallace collection. Painting: artist’s collection. Copyright 1999 Wendell E. Wilson.
Guanajuato Acanthite
Xerographically reproduced signed and numbered print on cotton paper, edition of 300 (2003). Adapted from an oil-on-canvas painting of a 6.8-cm cluster of acanthite crystals from the Reyes mine, Guanajuato, Mexico, in the Miguel Romero collection (now in the University of Arizona collection). Distributed with the 2003 Mineralogical Record Christmas card. Painting: artist’s collection. Copyright 2003 Wendell E. Wilson.
Arizona Gold
Watercolor, ink and prismacolor pencil on art board, 9 x 12 inches (2002). Drawn from a 1-inch gold specimen from Quartzsite, Arizona, in the collection of the University of Arizona. Painting: Mark Hay collection. Copyright 2002 Wendell E. Wilson.
Arizona Vanadinite
Watercolor on sheepskin vellum, 8.5 x 11 inches (1993), painted from a 1-inch crystal from the Apache mine, Arizona; Smithsonian collection. Xerographically reproduced as a signed and numbered print on cotton paper, edition of 200, distributed with the 1993 Mineralogical Record Christmas card. Copyright 1993 Wendell E. Wilson. Original painting: Bryan Lees collection.
Ray Copper
Watercolor on art board, 9 x 12 (2005). Painted from a 2.2-inch native copper crystal group from the Ray mine, Arizona, in the collection of Mark Hay. Copyright 2005 Wendell E. Wilson. Painting: Mark Hay collection.
Benitoite on Neptunite
Watercolor on art board, 9 x 12 (2003), painted from a 1.3-inch specimen of Benitoite on neptunite from the Dallas Gem mine, San Benito County, California, obtained by the artist from the Smithsonian Institution and now in the Ralph Clark collection. Copyright 2003 Wendell E. Wilson. Painting: Ralph Clark collection.
Brazilianite
Watercolor on art board, 9 x 12 inches (1999). A composited specimen based on examples of brazilianite crystals to 2 inches from the Corrego Frio locality, Brazil. Commissioned by Martin Zinn for use with his 1999 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show advertising. Copyright 1999 Wendell E. Wilson. Painting: Martin Zinn collection.
Chinese Cinnabar
Watercolor on sheepskin vellum, 8.5 x 11 inches (1983), based on a 1.6-cm crystal from the Yanwuping mine, Guishou Province, China; distributed as a xerographic, signed and numbered print (edition of 200)with the Mineralogical Record Christmas card in 1991. Recomposed (2004) on commission from Martin Zinn. Copyright 1983, 2004 Wendell E. Wilson. Original painting: Bryan Lees collection.
Rob Lavinsky, Wendell Wilson, and Susan Robinson.