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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

    John 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 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.

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