"The California-born Dixon (1875-1946) first traveled to Arizona in 1900 to experience what he believed was a vanishing West. Amid the mesas, canyons, and desertlands of the region he found visual inspiration and a spiritual solace that would shape both his painting and his life. His response to Arizona's natural and cultural landscapes would fuel the evolution of a powerful personal style; the place would ultimately become both an aesthetic and personal refuge." "Thomas Brent Smith explores Dixon's departure from traditional depictions of human conflict in the "Old West" model, as rendered by artists such as his predecessors Frederic Remington and others, in favor of a new body of tranquil and idealistic western images. Donald J. Hagerty presents a biographical essay tracing Dixon's travels amid the lands and people of Arizona and exploring their impact on his art. The two essays are followed by a "Chronological Folio" of Dixon's Arizona works from the early drawings of Native American subjects and scenes made in 1900 to the gentle and eloquent landscapes of his final years."--Publisher's description.
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