Original Maynard Dixon Sunset Magazine Poster

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Original Maynard Dixon Sunset Magazine Poster

About the Item

Maynard Dixon was born in 1885 in Fresno, California, into a family of aristocratic Virginia Confederates who had found a new home there after the American Civil War. His mother, a well-educated daughter of a Navy officer from San Francisco, shared her love of classic literature with the young boy and encouraged him in his writing and drawing. Dixon later studied briefly with the tonalist painter Arthur Mathews at the California School of Design. To support himself he accepted numerous illustration jobs. In 1900 Dixon visited Arizona and New Mexico. This was the start of his lifelong passion for roaming the West. The next year he accompanied artist Edward Borein on a horseback trip through several Western states. In California, he illustrated books and magazines with Western themes. For a time he lived in New York but soon returned to the western United States (San Francisco) where he said he could create “honest art of the west” instead of the romanticized versions he was being paid to create. Dixon developed his style during this early period, and Western themes became a trademark for him. In San Francisco, Dixon was considered a colorful character with a good sense of humor. He often dressed like a cowboy and seemed determined to impart a Western style, most often in the form of a black Stetson, boots and a bolo tie. In 1915, Dixon began to search for a new expression, moving away from impressionism and into a simpler, more modern style. Meeting and marrying Dorothea Lange, a portrait photographer from the East, had a great influence on his art. They married in 1920 and by 1925, the year their first son Daniel Rhoades Dixon was born, Maynard’s style had changed dramatically to even more powerful compositions, with the emphasis on design, color, and self-expression. A true modernist emerged. In 1933 the Dixons spent the summer in Zion National Park with sojourns to the hamlet of Mount Carmel, Utah. Lange was called back to San Francisco, a separation which led to the couple's divorce in 1935. Two years later, Dixon married San Francisco muralist Edith Hamlin. The couple left San Francisco two years later for southern Utah, the source of some of Dixon’s greatest art. In 1939, the couple built a summer home in Mount Carmel, where Dixon found new friends and became reacquainted with the local natural landscapes. Dixon also spent winter months in Tucson, where the couple had another home and studio and in 1946, he died there. Sunset Magazine began in 1898 as a promotional magazine for the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, designed to combat the negative "Wild West" stereotypes about California. The bold and mysterious compositions Dixon created for the magazine’s covers aided in disputing this reputation and resulted in some of his most memorable work. For more information visit www.sarahstocking.com

Creator:
Maynard Dixon (Artist)
Dimensions:
Height: 26 in (66.04 cm)Width: 17.5 in (44.45 cm)
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
Early 20th Century
Date of Manufacture:
1904
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Some minor losses and tears at edges, backed on linen.
Seller Location:
Los Gatos, CA
Reference Number:
Seller: 109581stDibs: LU8553841657