Dixon, Maynard, 1875-1946

Mural painter (San Francisco, Calif.).

From the description of Maynard Dixon papers, 1891-1974. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122565534

Maynard Dixon (1875-1946) was one of the premier illustrators, painters, and muralists of his time, concentrating largely on the Indians and deserts of the Southwest.

From the description of Maynard Dixon ephemera. (California State Library). WorldCat record id: 156976998

California artist.

From the description of Maynard Dixon papers, [ca. 1896-1946]. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 227535093

Painter, of San Francisco, Calif., later of Tucson, Ariz., and Mount Carmel, Utah, known for his easel and mural paintings of the American Southwest.

From the description of Papers, 1906-1946. (California Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 28419957

Biography

Maynard Dixon, illustrator and artist, born in Fresno in 1875, was exposed from childhood to the great outdoors of the high Sierra and to the wilderness of Kern River Canyon. A lonely child, he started drawing from nature, guided by engravings in early periodicals such as Scribners, Harpers, and the Century Magazine. In 1893 he attended for a short while the San Francisco School of Design, where he met Xavier Martinez and other artists. Largely self-taught and greatly influenced by Frederic Remington, he sold his first illustration to the San Francisco Call in 1895, and later was employed by that newspaper. At this time he also did illustrations for the Overland Monthly, and held his first exhibit in San Francisco. Encouraged by Charles F. Lummis, he also attempted writing verse, an avocation he was to pursue throughout his life.

In 1900 Dixon transferred to the San Francisco Examiner, and took his first trip to Arizona and New Mexico, whose land and people he was to portray so vividly in his sketches, and later in his paintings and murals. He led a tumultuous life, involved in the literary and artistic worlds of the time, often on the move, travelling to Nevada and the Southwest. He decided to abandon commercial work in 1921 in favor of continuing his paintings, and was commissioned to paint murals for many public buildings in San Francisco and elsewhere. In the 1930s he became involved with the WPA Art Project. It was at this time that, stirred by the sad plight of the strikers and migrant laborers, he used them as subjects for his paintings. He attained stature as a painter of the outdoors, the Indians of the Southwest, cowboys and bronco busters. He died in 1946.

From the guide to the Maynard Dixon Papers, [ca. 1896-1946], (The Bancroft Library)