Am I a fool
in that I am deep-willed to seek
always a Vision
never to be reached?
Yet, so having striven,
having crushed my heart (and yours)
against the hard will of the world,
and though determination has grown gaunt
with an immortal hunger,
I am not yet resigned to wait,
I am deep-willed to strive
so that if old age, or even death,
only make answer
I still can say,
out of all the intense devotion of my days,
somehow here I have created beauty.

Maynard Dixon

“Of those San Franciscans, who form the link in time and in art between the orthodox old-timers and the young third generation of followers of sundry “modernist” movements, there is at least one painter who, like all progressive, self-taught creative workers, has too much of the unique and solitary in his character to be easily classified. That one is Maynard Dixon, painter of the primitive Far West.”

Read Maynard Dixon biography in California Art Project, volume 8. CARA_V08_DIXON

At a glance

Birth : January 24, 1875 in Fresno, California (United States)
Death : November 11, 1946 in Tucson, Arizona (United States)
Arrival in San Francisco Bay area : Native
Married to : Lillian West Tobey (1905-1917); Dorothea Lange (1920-1935); Edith Hamlin (1937-1946)
Skills : Painter
Influence : Charles F. Lummis, Frederic S. Remington, Samuel Yelland

Network

Teachers, art education : California School of Design with Arthur Mathews, Samuel Yelland and mostly self taught
Relations : Juan Ray Abeita, Kenneth Adams, Mary Austin, Robert I. Aitken, Emil Bistram, Anita Baldwin McClaughry, Ambrose Bierce, Porter Carnett, Helen Dare, Charles Dickman, Ned Hamilton, J.L. Hubbel, Ed Borein, Homer Davenport, Gertsle, Edith Hamlin, Victor Higgins, James Hopper, Will Irwin, Sydney Joseph, John Kibbey, Dorothea Lange, Annie Laurie (Winifred Black), Sam Leake, Jack London, Charles F. Lummis, Loma Hinma, Albert MacArthur, Edwin Markham, Xavier Martinez, Adolf Methfessel , Antonio Mirabal, Charles Stuart Moody, Maurice del Mue, Frederick Munson, Namoki, Perry Newberry, Frank Norris, Gottardo Piazzoni, Willis Polk, George Post, Henry Raleigh, Eugene Manlove Rhodes, Charlie Russel, Diego Riviera, Alice Rix, Gordon Ross, Joe Sinel, Ray Stackpole, George Sterling, Ray Strong , Jimmy Swinnerton, Paul Taylor, Franck Tobin, Walter Ufer, Franck Van Sloun, Grant Wallace, Kem Weber, Charles P. Weeks, Ben Wittick, Samuel Yelland
Patrons : Adams Collection, Anita M. Baldwin, Brigham Young Foundation (Utah), Brophy Collection, Dr. L. C. Deane, W. F. Foster, W.L. Gerstle, George Herriman, Louis W. Hill, Mrs L. Lands, Joseph P. Loeb, Antonio Moreno, James D. Phelan, Henry W. Ranger, Mrs. F.D. Stringham, Mrs. Edward A. Vincent, Emanuel Walter Collection, Mrs. Thomas White, A.C. Wocker …
Institutions, clubs, venues : American Federation of Art, Architectural League (New York City), Artists’Cooperative Gallery (San Francisco), Bay Region Art Association (Oakland), Oakland Art Association, Beaux Arts Club (San Francisco), Berkeley Art League, Bohemian Club, Chicago Galleries Association, Family Club (San Francisco), Foundation of Western Art (Los Angeles), National Academy of Design, National Mural Painters (New York City), New York Society of Illustrators, Painters of the West (Los Angeles), Salmagundi Club (New York City), San Francisco Art Association, Southwest Society (Los Angeles)

WPA Works : Sketchings and paintings in Boulder Dam

Resources

In the Bancroft Library

Dixon, Maynard. September moonlight (1921). BANC PIC 1963.002:1367–FR. Courtesy of The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley Online

Dixon, Maynard. Finding it (19–). BANC PIC 1963.002:0275–A. Courtesy of The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley Online

Dixon, Maynard. Spending it (19–?). BANC PIC 1963.002:0276–A. Courtesy of The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley ONLINE

Archives of the Bancroft Library

Maynard Dixon Papers, [ca. 1896-1946] BANC MSS 73/81 c Catalog Record
Maynard Dixon papers : and related material, ca. 1901-1985. BANC MSS 85/101 c; BANC MSS 85/101 c. Catalog Record
Injun babies : stories for good little boys and girls, with love and best wishes from their old uncle, Maynard Dixon : TSS, 1913. BANC MSS 99/272 cp. Manuscript of six stories written by Maynard Dixon for the Christmas of 1913. Catalog Record

Pictorial Archives

Photographic copies of Maynard Dixon paintings [graphic]. BANC PIC 1988.094–PIC; BANC PIC 1988.094–PIC. Catalog Record
Drawings of California Indians [graphic] BANC PIC 1983.201–C; BANC PIC 1983.201–C. Catalog Record
[Humorous scene from a menu of Coppa’s Restaurant, San Francisco, Calif.] BANC PIC 1976.072–A. Catalog Record

Bibliography

Wallace, Grant (Federal Writers’ Project) Maynard Dixon, 1875-1946 : typescript / 1937. Catalog Record
Hagerty, Donald J., Interviewer. Edith Hamlin: California artist: Davis, Calif. : typescript, 1981. Catalog Record
Ryan, Beatrice Judd (ca 1959). The bridge between then and now. Unpublished manuscript recollections written during the last years of her life. Catalog Record