65

VERSO
Signed and titled
Inscribed, “Painted for Gale Bell, July 1944”
Label, J. N. Bartfield Galleries, New York, New York

An original bill of sale from J. N. Bartfield Galleries will accompany the lot.

In discussing this painting art historian Marilyn Laufer wrote, “Born on a ranch near Fresno, California, in 1875, Maynard Dixon’s lifelong fascination with the American West came naturally. His early training was at the California School of Design in San Francisco, and he found great success illustrating magazines and books during his early career. His most notable drawings are those for Clarence Mulford’s books on Hopalong Cassidy. His style, however, became increasingly modern, relying on simplified forms and powerful compositions inspired by the art exhibition at the Pacific International Exposition in 1915 and his marriage to photographer Dorothea Lange in 1920. Dixon traveled with his family throughout Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah seeking inspiration for his art during the 1920s and early 1930s. In 1935, he divorced Lange; he married muralist Edith Hamlin two years later. Their time together was divided between summers in Utah and winters in Tucson until the end of his life.

“Where’s Them Hosses?, dating from 1944, is an example of the artist’s mature work done in Arizona. Dixon’s high-keyed palette of yellow, gold, blue, and green bring an intensity to the image that the folksy title belies. Certainly, this image of the lone cowboy looking out over the vast expanse of desert has become an icon of the Old West, seared into our imagination through art and film. Yet, Dixon has simplified the image to its barest elements, suggesting both his modernist aesthetics and his love and admiration of this inhospitable land and the strong-willed people who inhabited it.”

PROVENANCE
The artist
Gale Bell, Sacramento, California, 1944
Schoen Collection, Miami, Florida
J. N. Bartfield Galleries, New York, New York, 2009
Robert D. Reed Collection, Jacksonville, Florida

EXHIBITED
Coming Home: American Paintings, 1930 – 1950, from the Schoen Collection, Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia, 2003

LITERATURE
Coming Home: American Paintings, 1930 – 1950, from the Schoen Collection, Georgia Museum of Art, 2005, pp. 25, 122-23, illustrated

Condition ReportSurface is in excellent condition. Spots of inpainting left side, near rock and horse’s hind leg.

Important Notice: Statements of condition are provided as a service to potential bidders; such statements are educated opinions and should not be regarded as facts. The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction has no responsibility for any errors or omissions.