Desert Dreams:The Art and Life of Maynard Dixon [Hardcover]

Donald J Hagerty (Author), John Dixon (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 10, 1993

"I know my West some, but to realize how big and splendid and free and magnificent and God-made it really is, once in a while, I have to look on Maynard Dixon's pictures," said Wilbur Hall in 1937. Added to this new edition are 20 newly discovered Dixon paintings, along with 12 previously unpublished black-and-white photographs, many of them portraits of Dixon taken by Dorothea Lange. This beautiful book captures the magnificence of Dixon's work and his unique personality. (19930808)

Editorial Reviews

Review

DESERT DREAMS: The Art and Life of Maynard Dixon by Donald J. Hagerty. (Gibbs-Smith: $65.) Born in 1875 in the southern San Joaquin Valley, Dixon grew up among the rocky arroyos, cattle ranches, cottonwoods and wide open praries he later painted. His heroes were Kit Carson, Sitting Bull, Stonewall Jackson, Geronimo and Joaquin Murietta. By the age of 16 he decided to devote himself to "illustrating the old west," and sent two sketchbooks to Frederic Remington. Remington's encouragement began Dixon's career as an illustrator. This beautiful book shows the range of Dixon's work; from tender blurred watercolors to bold, graphic magazine covers for the Overland Monthly, and murals like the one at left ("The Legend of Earth and Sun," 1929, courtesy of the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Ariz.). But most of the book is page after startling page of Dixon's oil paintings, of Mexico and the West, of Native Americans, mesas and mountains. Susan Reynolds. (Susan Reynolds Los Angeles Times )

From the Inside Flap

Contents Preface Acknowdgments Brief Chronology Foreword Introduction Growing up on the Dead Level: 1875-1893 Fin-de-Siecle Illustrator: 1893-1900 Going East to See the West: 1900-1907 Illustrated West, The New York Years: 1907-1912 Turn of the Tide: 1912-1920 Visionary: 1920-1925 Murals and Modernism: 1925-1931 From Taos to Chaos: 1931-1935 To Thine Own Self Be True: 1935-1940 At Last: 1940-1946 Revised Edition:1998 Notes Bibliography Index

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 324 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith, Publisher; Rev Sub edition (May 10, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879058269
• ISBN-13: 978-0879058265
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 11.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,046,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars American Artists whois missing in America Art!, February 11, 1999

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[e-mail] (United States of America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Desert Dreams:The Art and Life of Maynard Dixon (Hardcover)

If you've seen other books on Maynard Dixon, as I have, they will usually have strength more in one point rather than all points. For example: his landscapes, Indians, or pencil drawings. This is good but it would require another book to get satisfation on say "landscapes" if your book is on Indians or "Indians" if it's on landscapes! Desert Dream is a balanced, indepth and updated book that combines and augments all the previous books on Maynard Dixon that I have seen.

But it also does something more than tell us about an important, underrated American nationalists in the fine arts; Desert Dreams reveals in the first page the post world war II mentality that took over in the teaching of fine arts in 1946 which quite effectively eliminated the stature of native influenced Americans such as Maynard Dixon to whom Europe was not the panecea for himself as an artist or a man who thought deeply about art. In otherwords, the deliberate internationalization of art history in America has ill served the national appreciation of "cultural nationalism" within the context of fine arts in this country.

This small point is pregnant with implications.

At nearly 300 pages, the price is a real bargain!

What I also enjoyed about this book is the man himself and how unashamed he was to paint this country. It's land. It's people with an individualism that not only built his character but also builds countries, and sustains them as well.

As the husband of Dorethea Lange, it is unfortunate that his name is less well known than her's considering his place in California as an artist. Today, I cannot think any artist that could wear the mantle he did, from about 1900 until his death in1946, as California's most famous artist.

Color reproductions give a form and substance to this man and his art that is hard to come by otherwise, and this is due to the depth of Maynard Dixon's on own words which also are generously used in the book.

Though I'm writng about him as an artist, Maynard Dixon made a good accounting of himself as a poet too. Insightful, poignant words that are a far cry from the packaged language one often hears today. We need good poets to remind of deeper things, sublime things, good things. Like his painting, Maynard Dixon's poetry is also immortal.

I'd urge all to get a hold of this august book about and august man who can still teach us fundamentals in what is means to be American, an individual, a man. His constitution was written with brushes, pens, pencils, and other art means, but it still speaks freely, clearly, and with power to anyone who is willing to listen.

Take me at my word , but buy the book anyway.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Maynard Dixon may be our most underappreciated artist, March 26, 2003

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Joseph Townsend "the rake" (Hattiesburg, Ms. USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Desert Dreams:The Art and Life of Maynard Dixon (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book to own, both for the enjoyment of the art and to read and know more about Maynard Dixon. I am an aspiring watercolor painter myself and a lover of Western art. Several years ago I noted the stunning art work on the cover of the western Novel "The Streets of Laredo" in the Lonesome Dove series of books. I had no idea at the time who Maynard Dixon was, but I couldn't forget the image of the desert and the sky making the figures on horseback appear so small and fragile. This book provides so many great pictures, including my book cover, and it is also a fine biography of an inspiring life. If you like Western art, this might be described as a bridge between Remington and Russell and Edward Hopper. I know this is probably not technically a valid observation, but I think it the best way that I can describe Maynard Dixon's work.

5.0 out of 5 stars How did we miss this amazing American artist?, July 30, 2009

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Michael Goettee (Avondale Estates, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Desert Dreams:The Art and Life of Maynard Dixon (Hardcover)

The two previous reviewers did a wonderful job and I won't repeat much of what they've covered.

I stumbled on this book while on vacation in Arizona in 2001, but waited until my return to Atlanta to order it here. As I mentioned in another Amazon review I wrote for Director Jayne McKay's beautiful 2008 documentary, "Maynard Dixon: Art And Spirit," the phenomenal artist had completely escaped my notice until that Arizona visit. Arizona and New Mexico have become regular destinations for my travel. Living in the Atlanta area, I'm a Florida-born artist and have been completely caught up in the beauty of the American southwest. I can only aspire to the perfection of a painter that's become my artistic hero, (thanks to this book and McKay's DVD). If you've ever visited the awe-inspiring areas of the southwest that were so beautifully captured by Dixon, you'll once again remember what you felt there through his art.

"Maynard Dixon: Art And Spirit" Maynard Dixon: Art And Spirit