Description
Lazy Autumn
Maynard Dixon, 1943
This southern Utah scene portrays the Native Americans as part of the natural landscape. The land absorbs the diminutive forms of the Indians, and the earth tones and shape of the tepee echo the mesa in the background.
Dixon’s crisp lines, bright colors, and cloudless skies create a stark contrast with the blurred forms, dark colors, and cloudy skies of Inness’s “Landscape with Cattle,” also in this gallery. Both paintings, however, transform the land into a peaceful paradise.
Lazy Autumn was displayed in both the American Dreams and The First 100 Years exhibitions.
Explore more works of Maynard Dixon.
What’s Going On?
Central in the image is a large tree with golden and green hues that provides shade for three figures, two seated and one reclining. To the right of the figures stands a teepee. In the background a horizontal line of gray-green foliage delineates the clay-colored cliffs behind that rise to a plateau. The sky above is a cloudless blue.
More About Dixon
Maynard Dixon was an important 20th-century American painter who is best known for his iconic depictions of the American West.
Originally from California, Dixon painted subjects in both Arizona and New Mexico. He eventually settled in Southern Utah. There he developed his signature style of unique compositions. These often featured low horizons and simplified, yet imposing clouds and rock formations in bold colors.
Dixon also focused on preserving the image of Native American peoples whom he believed were disappearing from the American West. While married to the famous photographer Dorothea Lange, Dixon also focused on social realist subjects. These depicted people struggling to make a living during the Great Depression.
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