Destination Nowhere

Description

Destination Nowhere

Maynard Dixon, 1941

In the midst of the Depression, between one and two million Americans were wandering the country in search of work. In this painting, two such men, walk towards an unknown future in a landscape as bleak as their bank accounts. The road stretches endlessly before them. Their destitute state is reflected in the two barren sticks projecting out of the ground to their left. We view the men from behind and thus they remain faceless representatives of an era. Dixon’s wife, Dorothea Lange, captured a similar image photographically (“Migrant Worker on California Highway, June 1935). Check out more highlights about Dixon.

Destination Nowhere was displayed in our People in a Hard Land exhibition.

What’s Going On?

The foreground of the image consists of a dirt road the color of clay with scrub brush on either side.  Two male figures walk away from the viewer, carrying bed rolls on their backs.  In front of them are miles of flat desert with mountains in the far distance.  Above the mountains two-thirds of the canvas is atmospheric sky.

More About Dixon

Originally from California, Dixon painted subjects in Arizona, New Mexico and eventually settled in Southern Utah. There he developed his signature style of unique compositions, often featuring 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 depicting people struggling to make a living during the Great Depression.