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Dodge was born on March 9, 1867, at Bedford County, Virginia. He was the eldest of the three children of William Henry Dodge, who was of a New York family, and Mary Lucinda Leftwich, who was a descendant of Ralph Leftwich, a settler in Kent County, Virginia, in 1658. The "de" which William always prefixed to his middle name is believed to have been of his own adoption.
Dodge studied at the École des Beaux Arts and took first place in the examinations in 1881. He also studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme and with Raphael Collin at the Académie Colarossi, and traveled to Munich for studies there.
Dodge's contacts with his native state in later life seem to have been few, though apparently he obtained his first important commission as a mural painter through Governor William E. Cameron. In 1893, while still very young, he was commissioned to decorate the dome of the central building of the Colombian Exposition, the famous "White City" in Chicago. His painting for the World's Columbian Exposition was a symbolic representation of the exposition's high mission. It covered 14, 480 square feet and included upward of fifty figures classically garbed, and it was considered a remarkable work for so young an artist. The commendation it brought him determined his future career.
Dodge worked hard and steadily in his New York studio and in steady succession produced decorations, for the northwest corner pavilion of the Library of Congress, 1897; the Empire Theatre, New York, and the Majestic Theatre, Boston, 1903; the Hall of Records, New York, 1906; the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, 1908; Cafe de l'Opera, 1909; and Folies Bergere Theatre, Paris, 1910; and two large panels for the Tower of Jewels at the Panama Pacific Exposition. Among other works of his were a memorial panel for the Kenosha County Court House, Wisconsin; twenty-four large murals for the Flag Room of the New York State Capitol, Albany. Late in his career Dodge returned to his native state to install a panel in the BaptistHospital, Lynchburg.
In 1932 he did murals for the Buffalo, New York, city hall; for these he made use of low relief for certain parts, with gilding and color. His decorations for a room in the residence of Arthur Brisbane, New York, designed by Thomas Hastings, consisting of fourteen panels, are described in the Architect (New York), September-October 1930. The Albany Capitol murals are undoubtedly Dodge's most conspicuous work. The subjects, selected in cooperation with James Sullivan, state historian, are historical events, ranging from the first settlement of Manhattan to the end of the First World War, in which men from New York state participated.
In his later years Dodge became interested in Mayan art, and an exhibition of his water colors of Yucatan was held in the Milch Galleries, New York, in 1931. He died on March 25, 1935, in New York City.
Dodge was married, March 31, 1897, to Frances Theodora Bland Pryor, daughter of General Roger A. Pryor; they had a son and a daughter, Roger Pryor and Sara.
