Edgar Dorsey Taylor

Edgar Dorsey Taylor Original Woodcut Baja Series - “Wind Off the Shore...."

Circa 1960's

Edgar Dorsey Taylor was the son of painter Adelaide Virginia Dorsey and Edgar Mayo Taylor, and the grandson of painter Lillie S. Dorsey. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1928 and a master of arts degree in 1932, both from the University of California at Berkeley. He then studied in Italy and France, and in 1929, attended the Hans Hoffman School in Munich, Germany. 

On a traveling scholarship, Taylor studied in Greece, Crete, Sicily, Turkey and again in Germany. From 1933–35, Taylor taught at the University of California, and during this period he designed a leaded-glass map that was on display from 1939–40 at the Golden Gate International Exposition. In 1945, a series of drawings he did of mystical Texas landscapes were on exhibit at the California Palace of Legion of Honor. In the next decade, he did much teaching of art, including as a teacher of painting at the University of Texas in Austin from 1940–45 and teaching evening classes at the University of Southern California College in Los Angeles from 1945–46. Later in his career, he devoted himself to creating woodcuts and spent much time in Mexico pursuing his interest in the country's pottery, painting and woodblock printing. Edgar Taylor died in Los Angeles in 1978. His papers are at the University of California, Berkeley.