The Art of Maynard Dixon
The Art of MAYNARD DIXONFrom 1900 until his death in 1946, Maynard Dixon wandered, explored, and observed the American West's physical and cultural landscapes, creating a poetry of place through drawings, paintings, and murals. Active, outspoken, sometimes a cantankerous participant in San Francisco and the West's life, he developed the most enduring themes in his art by the 1920s and 1930s: the majestic western landscape, the mysticism of the Native American, and briefly, during the Great Depression images of people caught in the grip of economic and social hardship.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. Throughout his life, Dixon went through an array of responses to the American West: illustrative, narrative, mythic, and finally, when he adapted to the rise of modernism aesthetic. Poems, letters, and essays written by Dixon support his responses to the dynamic changes in American art in the early decades of the twentieth century.Hagerty retired in November 1993 from the University of California Davis after twenty-two years, having served as academic administrator for the internship program and lecturer in the American Studies Program, teaching courses in folklore and corporate cultures. He now works as an independent scholar and consultant on the art and cultures of the American West.His biography of Dixon, Desert Dreams: The Art and Life of Maynard Dixon, was published in 1993 by Gibbs Smith and revised in fall 1998. In addition to this volume, Hagerty wrote a companion volume, The Life of Maynard Dixon, which debuted in 2010. Other publications include Beyond the Visible Terrain: The Art of Ed Mell (1996), Canyon de Chelly: One Hundred Years of Painting and Photography (1996), Leading the West: One Hundred Contemporary Painters and Sculptors (1997), and Holding Ground: The Art of Gary Ernest Smith (1999).Hagerty has also written extensively on art and artists for a variety of magazines and other publications as well as for the Book Club of California. In addition, he has given numerous lectures for museums, libraries, and galleries. In 2002, he was appointed a member of the Board of Directors for the California State Library Foundation and currently serves as secretary for the organization. He and his wife live in Davis, California