Painting of the Day, December 18, 2011

By Donna Poulton

Maynard Dixon, The Enemy’s Country, 1942. Credit: Booksandvines.com

"My object has always been to get as close to the real thing as possible- people animals and country. The melodramatic Wild West idea is not for me the big possibility. The more lasting qualities are in the quiet and more broadly human aspects of Western life." - Maynard Dixon

Maynard Dixon, War-Talk, 1942. Credit: Booksandvines.com

In 1943 a limited edition of 1500 copies of Francis Parkman’s (1823-1893) The Oregon Tail was released. It was illustrated by Maynard Dixon (1875-1946) who chose to depict a three-week period during the summer of 1846 when Parkman spent time hunting buffalo with the Oglala Sioux. The illustrations were painted during Dixon’s mature period where he flattened the paint and worked with more minimal compositions.

Maynard Dixon, Running Buffalo, 1942. Credit: Booksandvines.com

For more information on Illustrators of The Oregon Trail you might be interested in this post:

Painting of the Day, December 16, 2011

- Part 3 of Illustrators of The Oregon Trail

By Donna Poulton

"I've heard people complain of the monotony, the weariness, the oppressiveness of the plains. For me the great plains have a releasing effect. They make me want to run and shout at the top of my voice. I like their endlessness. I like the way they make human beings appear as the little bugs they really are. I like the way they make thought seem futile and ideas but the silly vapors of the physically disordered. To think out on the great plains, under the immense rolling skies and before the equally immense roll of the earth, becomes a presumptuous absurdity." — Thomas Hart Benton

Perhaps the most important Regionalist painter of the 1930s, Thomas Hart Benton’s stylized works are as easily recognized as his subjects. He depicted themes that were uniquely American: farmers, floods, miners, politics and the heroic figures of the west. Benton’s contributions to the centennial edition of Parkman’s Oregon Trail were ideally suited to the narrative he enjoyed illustrating.

Cover illustration by Thomas Hart Benton. Credit: graydogsbooks

Frontispiece by Thomas Hart Benton. Credit: etsy.com

Sunflower and Buffalo by Thomas Hart Benton. Credit: monet.unk.edu

For more information on Illustrators of The Oregon Trail and Thomas Hart Benton you might be interested in these posts:

Impressions of the West: Thomas Hart Benton

Painting of the Day, The Oregon Trail, Frederic Remington

Painting of the Day, The Oregon Trail, N.C. Wyeth