Otis Dozier

Grasshopper

1987

Born in Forney, Texas, Otis Marion Dozier was raised on a farm in Mesquite, Texas. Dozier was a muralist, potter, lithographer, sculptor, and painter. Dozier was a member of a group of Texas regionalist artists known as the "Dallas Nine." His surroundings in Texas became the focus of much of his art. Dozier’s first artistic training took place in the early 1920’s when his family moved to Dallas. He studied under Vivian Aunspaugh, Cora Edge, and Frank Reaugh. His early subject matter was often the plight of farmers affected by the Great Depression. In the 1930’s, Dozier became a member of the Dallas Artists League, and he taught at the Dallas School of Creative Arts. He was commissioned to paint murals at Texas A&M University and at Texas post offices in Arlington, Giddings, and Fredricksburg. His works were displayed at various exhibitions, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1933, the Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936, the Denver Art Museum in 1943, and Dallas Allied Arts exhibitions in 1932, 1935, 1937, and 1946. In 1938, Dozier studied at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. Dozier served as Boardman Robinson’s assistant at the Fine Arts Center in the 1940’s. The Rocky Mountains became the focus of much of Dozier’s art, as he made over 3,000 sketches of Colorado ghost towns and mountains. When he returned to Dallas, he taught drawing at Southern Methodist University from 1945-1948. From the mid 1940’s until 1970, he taught drawing and painting at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. Exhibited: “Dallas Nine,” 1932; Texas State Fair Exhib., 1933; Dallas Allied Artists, 1932 (Kiest Purchase Prize), 1935, 1937 & 1946; Southwestern Art Assn., 1948 (prize); New Orleans Arts and Crafts, 1948 (prize); MoMA traveling exhib., 1933; Texas Centennial Expo, 1936; GGE, 1939; Denver Art Mus., 1943 (prize); AIC, 1944, 1946; WMAA, 1940, 1945; Carnegie Inst., 1946; Pasadena, CA, 1946; Dallas Allied Artists, 1946; solo shows, Witte Mem. Mus., 1948; Corcoran Gal, 1951, 1953; Dallas Mus. Fine Arts, 1956. Works held: Univ. Nebraska; Dallas Mus. Fine Arts; Denver Art Mus.; Metrop. Mus. of Art; Wadsworth Atheneum; Newark Mus.; A. & M. College, Bryan; Witte Mus.; Mus. FA, Houston. Further Reading: Pikes Peak Vision: The Broadmoor Art Academy, 1919-1945. The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center: Colorado Springs, 1989.; The Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West, Peggy and Harold Samuels, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1976.; Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Vol. I. Peter Hastings Falk, Georgia Kuchen and Veronica Roessler, eds.,Sound View Press, Madison, Connecticut, 1999. 3 Vols. ©David Cook Galleries, LLC