River Landscape

John Wesley Hardrick was born in Indianapolis in 1891. He grew up in the city, and in 1910, began studying painting, drawing, and sculpture at the John Herron Art Institute. He married Georgia Anna Howard in 1914 and had 4 children. During the 1920s, Hardrick shared a studio with Hale Woodruff, supplementing his income from art by working in the family trucking business and starting his own carpet cleaning company. In 1927, Hardrick earned a Bronze Award from the Harmon Foundation and was featured in his first Harmon Foundation exhibition in 1928. He exhibited with the foundation for five years, earning recognition for his realistic portraits. During the Great Depression, Hardrick painted murals for the WPA. He died in 1968.