TEACHING POETRY & AMERICAN ART

  • Introduction
    • Why Poetry and American Art?
    • Strategies
    • Disclaimer
    • About Me
  • Romanticism
    • Intro to American Romanticism (1820-1900)
    • John James Audubon
    • Thomas Cole
    • Asher Durand
    • Daniel Chester French
    • Winslow Homer
    • Albert Pinkham Ryder
    • Augustus Saint-Gaudens
    • "Illuminated Gems of Sacred Poetry"
    • "Indian Summer: Autumn Poems and Sketches"
  • Realism / Social Realism
    • Realism >
      • Intro to Realism (1900-1920)
      • George Bellows
      • Edwin Dawes
      • Thomas Eakins
      • Edward Hopper
      • Thomas Hovenden
      • John Sloan
    • Social Realism >
      • Intro to Social Realism (1920-1940)
      • Walker Evans
      • Dorothea Lange
      • Ben Shahn
  • Regionalism
    • Intro to Regionalism (1920-1940)
    • Thomas Hart Benton
    • Maynard Dixon
    • Grant Wood
  • Modernism
    • Intro to Modernism (1910-1940)
    • Stuart Davis
    • Charles Demuth
    • Marsden Hartley
    • Georgia O'Keeffe
  • Harlem Renaissance
    • Intro to Harlem Renaissance (1920-1940)
    • Aaron Douglas
    • Meta Warrick Fuller
    • Jacob Lawrence
    • Faith Ringgold
    • Carl Van Vechten
    • Hale Woodruff
  • Abstract Expressionism
    • Intro to Abstract Expressionism / New York School (1940-1960)
    • Morris Graves
    • Red Grooms
    • Philip Guston
    • Grace Hartigan
    • Kenneth Patchen
    • Dorothea Tanning
    • Walasse Ting
    • Cy Twombly
  • Postmodern/Contemporary
    • Intro to Postmodern / Contemporary Art (1950-present)
    • Visual Poetry
    • Louise Bourgeois
    • Joseph Goldyne
    • Elizabeth Murray
    • Jeff Schlanger
    • Kiki Smith
    • Jaune Q. Smith
  • More Resources
  • Introduction
    • Why Poetry and American Art?
    • Strategies
    • Disclaimer
    • About Me
  • Romanticism
    • Intro to American Romanticism (1820-1900)
    • John James Audubon
    • Thomas Cole
    • Asher Durand
    • Daniel Chester French
    • Winslow Homer
    • Albert Pinkham Ryder
    • Augustus Saint-Gaudens
    • "Illuminated Gems of Sacred Poetry"
    • "Indian Summer: Autumn Poems and Sketches"
  • Realism / Social Realism
    • Realism >
      • Intro to Realism (1900-1920)
      • George Bellows
      • Edwin Dawes
      • Thomas Eakins
      • Edward Hopper
      • Thomas Hovenden
      • John Sloan
    • Social Realism >
      • Intro to Social Realism (1920-1940)
      • Walker Evans
      • Dorothea Lange
      • Ben Shahn
  • Regionalism
    • Intro to Regionalism (1920-1940)
    • Thomas Hart Benton
    • Maynard Dixon
    • Grant Wood
  • Modernism
    • Intro to Modernism (1910-1940)
    • Stuart Davis
    • Charles Demuth
    • Marsden Hartley
    • Georgia O'Keeffe
  • Harlem Renaissance
    • Intro to Harlem Renaissance (1920-1940)
    • Aaron Douglas
    • Meta Warrick Fuller
    • Jacob Lawrence
    • Faith Ringgold
    • Carl Van Vechten
    • Hale Woodruff
  • Abstract Expressionism
    • Intro to Abstract Expressionism / New York School (1940-1960)
    • Morris Graves
    • Red Grooms
    • Philip Guston
    • Grace Hartigan
    • Kenneth Patchen
    • Dorothea Tanning
    • Walasse Ting
    • Cy Twombly
  • Postmodern/Contemporary
    • Intro to Postmodern / Contemporary Art (1950-present)
    • Visual Poetry
    • Louise Bourgeois
    • Joseph Goldyne
    • Elizabeth Murray
    • Jeff Schlanger
    • Kiki Smith
    • Jaune Q. Smith
  • More Resources

Edwin Dawes (1872-1945)

BIOGRAPHY    

The sixth child of a grocery store owner, Edwin Dawes reported that his mother encouraged him to draw pictures to "keep him out of mischief." Born in Boone, Iowa, Dawes' interest in art began while working as a sign painter in Minnesota during the 1890s. Concurrently in the business of manufacturing and selling baking powder with his father and brother, a visit to the Walker Gallery (now the Walker Art Center) in Minneapolis at the turn of the century immediately inspired him to study painting. A
lthough Dawes received no formal instruction, he spent many hours analyzing the masters in the gallery. In 1908, the prominent Chicago art dealer J. W. Young visited Minneapolis and came across Dawes working at an easel in Nicholson's Sign Shop.  Marveling at his large canvas entitled Burning Leaves, Young offered to exhibit the work, an event eagerly reported by the local newspapers. In 1911, inspired by his first public exhibitions and an Honorable Mention in a state competition, Dawes' works from this period show the influence of Impressionism landscapes: a concern for light and atmosphere, as well as a spontaneous application of pigment.

In the spring of 1913, when America was bewildered by some of the art at the Armory Show in New York, the comparatively conservative Dawes was accepted on the jury of the Minnesota State Art Society, receiving a gold medal for 
Channel to the Mills. This canvas reflects not only impressionism but tonalism, from the short staccato strokes of limited hues in rhythmic, swirling passages, to the large geometric forms of a skyline diffused in shimmering light. Dawes' exemplary skilled brushwork transforms Minneapolis from a sleepy midwestern city into a vibrant and active, industrial urban environment where man-made forms loom as majestically as those of nature.

In 1918,
Mr. and Mrs. Dawes purchased a mining company in Nevada, a change of pace after a prolific period of art in New York the past three years. The mining company thrived. 

​Later in his life, Dawes moved to California and set up a studio in Glendale, painting the Los Angeles area. This work was well-received, although after his death, Edwin Dawes was probably more remembered for his success in the mining of gold and silver than for his career as a painter.  

RESOURCES

1. Channel to the Mills (Dawes) and Early Morning at Cold Spring (Durand)

REFERENCES

Biography adapted from Richard Love: 

→ http://www.askart.com/artist_bio/Edwin_Munot_Dawes/6611/Edwin_Munot_Dawes.aspx
Artwork behind title: Dawes's Southwestern Landscape (detail)
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