Manierre Dawson facts for kids
Manierre Dawson (born December 22, 1887 – died August 15, 1969) was an American artist. He was known for his abstract paintings and sculptures.
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Manierre Dawson's Life Story
Dawson was born in Chicago, Illinois, but he spent most of his life in Michigan. He was one of four sons. His parents supported art as a hobby, but they wanted their sons to have "professional" jobs. His younger brother, Mitchell Dawson, became a lawyer and a poet.
Starting Out: Education and Early Work
After high school, Manierre studied civil engineering at the Armour Institute of Technology. He finished his degree in 1909. His engineering studies really shaped his art.
Courses like mechanical drawing and descriptive geometry helped him paint in a geometric style by late 1908. His math classes, like analytic geometry and differential calculus, directly led to his first abstract paintings in 1910. At that time, he worked for an architecture firm in Chicago called John Holabird and Martin Roche.
A Trip to Europe and New Ideas
After working for a year, Dawson took six months off to travel in Europe. This was his only trip abroad. He visited England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.
In Siena, Italy, he met and shared ideas about painting with another artist, John Singer Sargent. When he returned to Paris, he visited the home of Gertrude Stein, a famous writer. He also saw paintings by Paul Cézanne in a gallery. After his trip, he stopped in New York and met Arthur B. Davies, who then introduced him to Albert Pinkham Ryder, another artist.
Manierre Dawson's Art Career
His trip to Europe and meeting other artists inspired Dawson. The years from 1911 to 1914 were his most creative. He made some paintings based on older famous artworks.
In 1912, Arthur B. Davies invited Dawson to show his art in a big exhibition called the International Exhibition of Modern Art. This show is better known as the Armory Show. It took place in New York in 1913. Dawson said he didn't have anything ready to send. When the Armory Show came to Chicago, Dawson's job with Holabird and Roche ended. We don't know why he left.
Showing His Art
In 1914, Dawson showed his paintings in two group exhibitions. One show traveled to the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. The other show was organized by the Milwaukee Art Society (now the Milwaukee Art Museum). At this show, two of his paintings were sold to a collector named Arthur Jerome Eddy.
Life in Michigan and New Art Themes
Dawson spent his summers at his family's home in Michigan. These times were very productive for his art. He also learned about growing and selling fruit. So, in 1914, he moved there permanently. He met Lilian Boucher, a local farmer's daughter, and they fell in love. They got married in 1915 and had three children.
Just as his engineering training influenced his early art, his life in Michigan and his new job as a farmer changed his later work. When he started making a living from the land and raising a family, his art began to show themes of nature and growth. The many hours he spent in his orchards, pruning and harvesting, led to paintings with twisting, intertwining shapes. Some of these ideas started as sculptures but were first drawn as paintings. Later, he made them into real sculptures.
Living in rural Michigan and not having much money, he made art from materials he could find. He used Portland cement, scraps of wood, and pieces of plywood. He even glued together sheets of composite wood to make thick blocks, which he then carved into sculptures.
Later Recognition
In the mid-1950s, Dawson and his wife started spending winters in Sarasota, Florida. His art began to get real attention in 1966. The Grand Rapids Art Museum held a special exhibition of his work. A year later, another exhibition was organized by the John and Mable Ringling Museum in Sarasota. This show also went to the Norton Museum of Art. These exhibitions helped bring Dawson to the attention of Robert Schoelkopf, who showed his work in New York in 1969 and 1981.
In 1968, Dawson was diagnosed with cancer. He sold his farm in Michigan and moved to Sarasota for good. He passed away on August 15, 1969.
Famous Paintings by Manierre Dawson
Here are some of Manierre Dawson's important paintings:
- Promrs. darrow gnostic, 1910, Milwaukee Museum of Art
- Xdx, 1910, Brooklyn Museum of Art
- Discal Procession, 1910, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
- Lucrece, 1911, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota
- Mrs. Darrow, 1911, Art Institute of Chicago
- Meeting (The Three Graces), 1912, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Figures in Action (Struggle), 1912, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
- Retrospect, 1913, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
- Letters and Numbers, 1914, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
- Figure by Window, 1915, Illinois State Museum, Springfield
Exhibitions of Manierre Dawson's Work
Here are some of the places where Manierre Dawson's art has been shown:
- Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings, Montross Gallery in New York, February 2–23, 1914; and other museums in Detroit, Cincinnati, and Baltimore in 1914.
- Manierre Dawson, Milwaukee Art Institute, January 1923.
- Retrospective Paintings by Manierre Dawson, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Michigan, April 3–24, 1966.
- Manierre Dawson: Paintings 1909-1913, Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida November 6–26, 1967, and Norton Gallery and School of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, January 6-February 18, 1968.
- Manierre Dawson, Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, April 5-May 1, 1969.
- Manierre Dawson (1887-1969): A Retrospective Exhibition of Painting, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, November 13-January 2, 1977; and other museums in Indiana and Maryland in 1977.
- Manierre Dawson, Paintings 1910-1914, Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York, March 28-April 22, 1981.
- Manierre Dawson (1887-1969): American Modernist Painter, Tildon-Foley Gallery, New Orleans, May 21-June 30, 1988.
- Manierrre Dawson Early Abstractionist, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, July 8-June 30, 1988.
- Manierre Dawson American Pioneer of Abstract Art, Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York, October 1–30, 1999.
- Manierre Dawson American Pioneer of Abstract Art, Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, Indiana, December 1–30, 2000.
- Manierre Dawson: New Revelations, Hollis Taggart Galleries, Chicago, May 1-June 15, 2003.
- Manierre Dawson: A Startling Presence, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, March 12–August 6, 2006.
- Manierre Dawson (1887–1969), Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York, April 7–30, 2011.
