Art Art &Bill Peckmann &Illustration 22 Mar 2013 03:52 am
Maynard Dixon
Maynard Dixon was a wonderful artist of the old West. His beautiful landscapes, his extraordinary posing of the figures in those landscapes, his ability to connect us to the scenes he so beautifully creates are strong reasons for caring deeply about his art. Bill Peckmann has this book, and he shared it with me/us. Is there anything more I need say? I hope you enjoy this artwork as well as do I
Here are Bill’s comments:
- This book of Maynard Dixon’s wonderful western art is not exactly a coffee table book, at 9 x 6, it’s more like a night stand book, but don’t let its’ bantam size fool you, it packs a very potent punch! This well written, perfectly researched and very enjoyable to read biography by Donald J. Hagerty, has it all. Profusely illustrated, with lots of pictures that I’ve never seen before. (The best part about that, is the fact that the illo’s are in sync with the text, you read about something and there’s a picture right there to illustrate the point. That doesn’t happen that often in books.) The price is a steal on Amazon, so whether you are a fan and have all of Dixon’s exceptional, well worth, over sized art books, or, you are new to the art of Maynard Dixon but want to find out what the noise is about, this IMHO is THE book to get!
Here are some of the illustrations that appear in the book. If you remember that Dixon was born in 1875 and then look at the dates of the illustrations, you’ll see what this mostly self-taught artist was capable of doing at a very young age.
1
Here is the deftly done cover design, a composite of
a sepia photo of MD and one of his works in color.
2
Carson, Nevada (Oct 1917)
A Dixon oil sketch that appears on the book’s back cover.
3
Dawn, Coronado (1891)
Jackass Meadows (1894)
Pencil and pastel on paper
4a
Indian Sign (1893)
Pen & ink on paper
One of my favorite Dixon sketches. It’s a haunting
piece of art, a sketch of another work of art.
4b
Sycamore, El Alisal (1900)
Pencil and charcoal on paper
5
Murrrieta’s Gold (1901)
6
Oregon Cowboy (1901)
pencil and pen & ink on paper
7
Indian on Horseback (1903)
Pastel on paper
This sketch done in 1903 looks like it came out of a 1950′s magazine.
8
Fire and Earthquake (1906)
ink on paper
9
Sunset Magazine (1907)
10b
When a Giant Sequoia Falls (1907)
11
12
The Texican (Dust Jacket)
13
Bar 20-Days (Dust Jacket)
14
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35
Finally a portraitofte artist, himself, around 1943
on 22 Mar 2013 at 11:54 am 1.joel brinerhoff said …
Wow, I don’t know why these pictures move me so but they touch something deep down inside. It’s partly the nostalgic subject matter but the handling is very striking too. The loose brushwork of the field in Carson Nevada still has that quality of sunlight breaking through the clouds and the way the light hits those fields and red roofs is impressively magical to me.
I love the graphic illustrator approach to some of these too and the yellow green sky of the Pierce Arrow ad. The purple line that defines the shapes of the Indian and the cornfield makes it poster like and yet the total choice of colors mutes the piece making it softly understated. This guy was quite a colorist.
Thanks
on 22 Mar 2013 at 4:10 pm 2.Stephen Macquignon said …
Beautiful artwork thank you
on 24 Mar 2013 at 12:29 pm 3.Bill said …
Another solid, companion biography to Hagerty’s colorful, hardcover book is the paperback “The Thunderbird Remembered”, published in 1994 by the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum. (The indian Thunderbird symbol became Dixon’s logo.) This 110 page book is made up of reminiscences by Dixon’s two wives and his two sons. All the first hand knowledge is a very potent and an enjoyably smooth read. It is also profusely illustrated with black and white photos and illustrations, most not seen in the Hagerty book.
on 27 Mar 2013 at 8:52 pm 4.Laura said …
Thanks Michael! Seeing this art makes you realize how our life in the east really looks nothing like the other half of the country. It’s good to be reminded of the other half, in such a gorgeous way.