Maynard Dixon
Encyclopedia
Maynard Dixon was a 20th-century American artist whose body of work focused on the American West. He was married for a time to American photographer Dorothea Lange
.
into a family of aristocratic Virginia Confederates who had found a new home there after the American Civil War
. His mother, a well-educated daughter of a Navy officer from San Francisco, shared her love of classic literature with the young boy and encouraged him in his writing and drawing. Dixon later studied briefly with the tonalist painter Arthur Mathews
at the California School of Design where he became close friends with Xavier Martinez
and others of the Bohemian Club
. To support himself he accepted numerous illustration jobs. Great illustrators were plentiful around the turn of the century, yet Dixon obtained work from the Overland Monthly and several San Francisco newspapers.
In 1900 Dixon visited Arizona and New Mexico. This was the start of his lifelong passion for roaming the West. The next year he accompanied artist Edward Borein on a horseback trip through several Western states. In California, he illustrated books and magazines with Western themes. Some of his most memorable work from these early years appeared in Clarence Mulford’s books about Hopalong Cassidy
. For a time he lived in New York with his young wife and baby daughter Constance, but soon returned to the western United States where he said he could create “honest art of the west” instead of the romanticized versions he was being paid to create. Shortly after he began a new life in San Francisco, his first marriage ended.
Dixon developed his style during this early period, and Western themes became a trademark for him. In San Francisco, Dixon was considered a colorful character with a good sense of humor. He often dressed like a cowboy and seemed determined to impart a Western style, most often in the form of a black Stetson, boots and a bolo tie.
Influenced in part by the Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915, Dixon began to search for a new expression, moving away from impressionism and into a simpler, more modern style. Meeting and marrying Dorothea Lange
, a portrait photographer from the East, had a great influence on his art. They married in 1920 and by 1925, the year their first son Daniel Rhoades Dixon was born, Maynard’s style had changed dramatically to even more powerful compositions, with the emphasis on design, color, and self-expression. A true modernist emerged. The power of low horizons and marching cloud formations, simplified and distilled, became his own brand and at once were both bold and mysterious. In 1929 his second son was born, John Eaglefeather Dixon.
During the Great Depression
, Dixon painted a series of social realism
canvases depicting the prevailing politics of maritime strikes, displaced workers, and those affected by the depression. Simultaneously, Lange captured on film images of the migrant workers in the Salinas Valley and the city breadlines, images that eventually brought her fame. In 1933 the Dixons spent the summer in Zion National Park
with sojourns to the hamlet of Mount Carmel, Utah. Lange was called back to San Francisco, a separation which led to the couple's divorce in 1935.
Two years later, Dixon married San Francisco muralist Edith Hamlin
. The couple left San Francisco two years later for southern Utah, the source of some of Dixon’s greatest art. In 1939, the couple built a summer home
in Mount Carmel, where Dixon found new friends and became reacquainted with the local natural landscapes. He lived near the cottonwood trees along an old irrigation ditch and took short hikes to a plateau where he loved the quiet. Dixon spent winter months in Tucson, where the couple also had a home and studio.
Dixon continued to create simple but powerful compositions in which non-essential elements were distilled or eliminated. In 1946 Maynard died at his winter home in Tucson. In the spring of 1947 his widow Edith brought his ashes to Mount Carmel where she buried them on a high bluff above the art studio being built on the property. This had been at his request and she felt it a fitting tribute where friends could come to pay respects and view the land that he loved.
DVD- Maynard Dixon Art and Spirit 2008, produced/directed by Jayne McKay. Narrated by Diane Keaton.http://www.maynarddixondoc.com
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange was an influential American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration...
.
Biography
Dixon was born in Fresno, CaliforniaFresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
into a family of aristocratic Virginia Confederates who had found a new home there after the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. His mother, a well-educated daughter of a Navy officer from San Francisco, shared her love of classic literature with the young boy and encouraged him in his writing and drawing. Dixon later studied briefly with the tonalist painter Arthur Mathews
Arthur Frank Mathews
Arthur F. Mathews was an American Tonalist painter who was one of the founders of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. Trained as an architect and artist, he and his wife Lucia Kleinhans Mathews had a significant effect on the evolution of Californian art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
at the California School of Design where he became close friends with Xavier Martinez
Xavier Martinez
Xavier Timoteo Martínez was a California artist active in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was born in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, and, after becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States, died in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California...
and others of the Bohemian Club
Bohemian Club
The Bohemian Club is a private men's club in San Francisco, California, United States.Its clubhouse is located at 624 Taylor Street in San Francisco...
. To support himself he accepted numerous illustration jobs. Great illustrators were plentiful around the turn of the century, yet Dixon obtained work from the Overland Monthly and several San Francisco newspapers.
In 1900 Dixon visited Arizona and New Mexico. This was the start of his lifelong passion for roaming the West. The next year he accompanied artist Edward Borein on a horseback trip through several Western states. In California, he illustrated books and magazines with Western themes. Some of his most memorable work from these early years appeared in Clarence Mulford’s books about Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of popular short stories and twenty-eight novels based on the character....
. For a time he lived in New York with his young wife and baby daughter Constance, but soon returned to the western United States where he said he could create “honest art of the west” instead of the romanticized versions he was being paid to create. Shortly after he began a new life in San Francisco, his first marriage ended.
Dixon developed his style during this early period, and Western themes became a trademark for him. In San Francisco, Dixon was considered a colorful character with a good sense of humor. He often dressed like a cowboy and seemed determined to impart a Western style, most often in the form of a black Stetson, boots and a bolo tie.
Influenced in part by the Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915, Dixon began to search for a new expression, moving away from impressionism and into a simpler, more modern style. Meeting and marrying Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange was an influential American documentary photographer and photojournalist, best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration...
, a portrait photographer from the East, had a great influence on his art. They married in 1920 and by 1925, the year their first son Daniel Rhoades Dixon was born, Maynard’s style had changed dramatically to even more powerful compositions, with the emphasis on design, color, and self-expression. A true modernist emerged. The power of low horizons and marching cloud formations, simplified and distilled, became his own brand and at once were both bold and mysterious. In 1929 his second son was born, John Eaglefeather Dixon.
During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, Dixon painted a series of social realism
Social realism
Social Realism, also known as Socio-Realism, is an artistic movement, expressed in the visual and other realist arts, which depicts social and racial injustice, economic hardship, through unvarnished pictures of life's struggles; often depicting working class activities as heroic...
canvases depicting the prevailing politics of maritime strikes, displaced workers, and those affected by the depression. Simultaneously, Lange captured on film images of the migrant workers in the Salinas Valley and the city breadlines, images that eventually brought her fame. In 1933 the Dixons spent the summer in Zion National Park
Zion National Park
Zion National Park is located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. A prominent feature of the park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles long and up to half a mile deep, cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River...
with sojourns to the hamlet of Mount Carmel, Utah. Lange was called back to San Francisco, a separation which led to the couple's divorce in 1935.
Two years later, Dixon married San Francisco muralist Edith Hamlin
Edith Hamlin
Edith Hamlin was an American artist. Born in Oakland, California, as a small child she was exposed to art by her father who took her on sketching trips...
. The couple left San Francisco two years later for southern Utah, the source of some of Dixon’s greatest art. In 1939, the couple built a summer home
Maynard and Edith Hamlin Dixon House and Studio
The Maynard and Edith Hamlin Dixon House and Studio is a residence and former painting studio in Mount Carmel, Utah. Maynard Dixon was a prominent artist in the 1920s through 1940s who is best known for his landscape paintings of the American West. He moved to Mount Carmel in 1939 shortly after...
in Mount Carmel, where Dixon found new friends and became reacquainted with the local natural landscapes. He lived near the cottonwood trees along an old irrigation ditch and took short hikes to a plateau where he loved the quiet. Dixon spent winter months in Tucson, where the couple also had a home and studio.
Dixon continued to create simple but powerful compositions in which non-essential elements were distilled or eliminated. In 1946 Maynard died at his winter home in Tucson. In the spring of 1947 his widow Edith brought his ashes to Mount Carmel where she buried them on a high bluff above the art studio being built on the property. This had been at his request and she felt it a fitting tribute where friends could come to pay respects and view the land that he loved.
External links
- Works from the Permanent Collection of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts
- Maynard Dixon Museum, Tucson, AZ
- MaynardDixon.org
- www.MaynardDixonBooks.com, Books about Maynard Dixon for sale
- Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts a non-profit organization furthering the legacy of American artist Maynard Dixon by preserving his estate and educating the public about his immeasurable contributions to American art. The Thunderbird Foundation also maintains the Maynard Dixon summer home and studio in Mt. Carmel, Utah.
- Maynard Dixon Country, annual art show
- Award-winning documentary written by Jayne McKay and Daniel Dixon, narrated by Diane Keaton, original music: John McEuen, voice of Maynard Dixon: Don Edwards.
- Guide to the Maynard Dixon Papers at The Bancroft Library
DVD- Maynard Dixon Art and Spirit 2008, produced/directed by Jayne McKay. Narrated by Diane Keaton.http://www.maynarddixondoc.com