Maynard Dixon was an American artist. His landscape paintings depicted the areas and the inhabitants of the American W.
Dixon wrote poetry as well.
Background
Maynard Dixon was born on January 24, 1875, in Fresno, California, United States. He was a son of ranchers Harry St. John Dixon and Constance Maynard.
Maynard revealed his passion for art and his artistic talent at an early age. He dreamt about becoming an illustrator of the Old W.
Dixon’s mother, a lover of a classical literature, shared her interest with her son and encouraged his passion for writing and drawing.
Education
Maynard Dixon entered the California School of Design (currently San Francisco Art Institute) where he briefly studied art with Arthur Mathews. While at the institution, Dixon met a painter Xavier Martinez who became his close friend.
Except for his short training and some lessons from private tutors, Maynard Dixon was an autodidact painter.
Maynard Dixon started his career in San Francisco at the end of the 1890s working as an illustrator for local newspapers and magazines, such as the Overland Monthly and Sunset Magazine. He also earned his living illustrating various books including ‘Hopalong Cassidy’ by Clarence E. Mulford. The artist returned to this type of work throughout his lifetime.
Dixon presented his artworks to the public for the first time at the show of “regional artists” held in Alameda, California in the spring of 1899.
At the beginning of the new decade, he traveled to Arizona and Mexico, and the following year accompanied Edward Borein on his trip around Western regions. Both journeys reinforced Dixon’s passion for the West.
While in California, in 1903, he presented his artworks at the shows organized by Bohemian Club, San Francisco Art Association and Newspaper Artists League. The painter started his collaboration with many other art galleries and associations of the region where he exhibited regularly since then, including California Society of Artists and Hotel Del Monte Art Gallery. Dixon participated at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 which had a great influence on the development of his style.
During the First World War, Dixon, along with Lee F. Randolph, Bruce Nelson and other artists, worked on the redesign of the United States Army camouflage. The artist continued his painting trips and visited Nevada and Arizona.
In 1926, Maynard Dixon co-curated the show “Pueblo and Navajo Arts & Crafts” at the Paul Elder Gallery of San Francisco and exhibited himself at the Oakland Art Gallery. Two years later, he participated at the show held in the University of California, Berkeley and in California State Fair.
The Great Depression changed the subjects of Dixon’s canvases. He started to depict social and political problems, and people suffering from the crisis. In 1931, Dixon joined the artists of the group exhibition held at the Tahoe Tavern on Lake Tahoe. Four years later, the artist joined the Society of the Thirteen Watercolorists and regularly demonstrated his works at the exhibitions organized by the association.
At the end of the decade, Maynard Dixon relocated to Utah with his third wife. The beautiful nature of the region inspired the artist on his best paintings. While there, he enlarged his professional circle meeting a lot of local landscape painters.
Maynard Dixon had good sense of humor. Passionate by western theme, he often wore cowboy’s clothes, including boots and bola tie.
Connections
Maynard Dixon was married three times.
On May 7, 1905, he married Lillian West Tobey. The couple divorced in 1917.
On March 21, 1920, the artist married a photographer Dorothea Lange. They lived together for fifteen years and had two sons named Daniel Rhodes and John Eaglefeather.
Two years after the divorce, on September 7, Dixon formed a family with a muralist Edith Hamlin.
The Art of Maynard Dixon
Profusely illustrated with numerous new images of paintings and other artwork, this book traces the emergence of Dixon as a transitional figure in the art history of America
2010
The Life of Maynard Dixon
Written in a very personal style, this biography includes anecdotes from Dixon’s children, historical vignettes, and interviews with those who knew the artist