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Nothing softens a bedroom like a painted surface. Land Westward by Maynard Dixon arrives as a hand painted oil painting on canvas, offering the fine art detail, soft gradients, and tactile finish that fine art oil painting shoppers look for.
1936-1945
Oil on canvas
25 x 30 inches
From early in his career, Dixon objected to dramatizing depictions of the Western way of life. The Western genre was initially built upon sensationalizing the struggles of the frontier, particularly the clashes between settlers and the native tribes which were frequent themes of works by Dixon's hero, Frederic Remington. Being born and raised in the region gave Dixon a notably different perspective on the Old West. Having lived and worked with the cowboys, traders, and Native Americans he portrayed; Dixon preferred to depict the daily tribulations people faced with halcyon dignity. As in the present work, Land Westward, amidst the vast landscape is a solitary wrangler with a few head of horses moving unhurriedly across the expanse. This lone figure is dwarfed by the land behind and sky above, enveloped by the solitude and grandeur of the seemingly endless landscape.
Maynard Dixon said, "My object has always been to get close to the real nature of my subject as possible — people, animals and country. The melodramatic Wild West idea is not for me the big possibility. The nobler and more lasting qualities are in the quiet and most broadly human aspects of western life. I aim to interpret, for the most part, the poetry and pathos of the life of western people, seen amid the grandeur, sternness and loneliness of their country."
Painted at the apex of his prowess as a painter, Land Westward epitomizes Maynard Dixon's mature style with hard lines, flat planes of color, and strong horizontal elements. Here he has reduced the striations of the scene to their simplest forms and composition is dominated by bands of color. Alternating browns, whites and ochres depict the thin brush in the immediate foreground with undulations of yellow and orange in the plains immediately behind the equestrian group. Plateaus at the horizon line are articulated with a few thin brushes of steel blue and nutmeg, while a flat skyline of cornflower blue indicates a distant mountain range. The remaining upper two-thirds of the canvas is a smooth gradient from pale blue to faded denim of cloudless sky.
Dixon's biographer comments, "A shy, sensitive youth, Maynard Dixon listened, looked and remembered, absorbing impressions of simplicity, low-laid masses of land, and the far-flung decorative sweeps of sky. Such shapes dominate and give signature to the art of his later years. 'No doubt,' [Dixon] once reflected, 'these flat scenes have influenced my work. I don't like to psychoanalyze myself, but I have always felt my boyhood impressions are responsible for my 'weakness for horizontal lines.'"
Collectors often choose this fine art image when searching for fine art oil painting that feels substantial rather than decorative or disposable.
Materials matter for refined wall decor. That is why this piece is built on artist-grade canvas with lightfast oil colors, applied by hand rather than output from a printer, and sealed for long-term display.
Style it over a fireplace, behind a reading chair, or along a staircase. Wherever it goes, this refined oil painting wall decor adds the layered color that only a hand painted canvas provides.
Browse our Maynard Dixon Paintings selection for related fine art canvases, or commission this fine art image in a custom size. Every order is a hand painted oil painting, never a printed poster.
| Size | Price |
|---|---|
| 20 X 24 in | $68.48 |
| 24 X 36 in | $106.48 |
| 30 X 40 in | $146.98 |
| 36 X 48 in | $195.48 |
| 48 X 72 in | $379.98 |
The sizes shown are the reproduction canvas sizes we paint to order. The dimensions given in a work's description refer to the original artwork and will differ from the sizes offered here. Not sure? Read the size guide or e-mail us.
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Every canvas is painted by hand in oils on artist-grade stretched canvas, with an extra blank border left for framing. How to care for your painting.
Measurements are on the size guide, or e-mail [email protected] and we reply within one business day.
