Smithsonian Archives of American Art

 
Dawson, Manierre (b. 1887 d. 1969)

Painter, Sculptor
Chicago, , Ill., ; Milwaukee, , Wis., ; Ludington, , Mich.,

Diary, 1908-1940 67 p.

Diary recounting his experiences as an architectural draftsman, his tour of Europe in 1910, a brief attempt at fruit farming, and his struggles to achieve artistic success, 1908-1922 and 1939-1940 (67 oversize p., a xerox copy of Dawson's handwritten copy of the originals). While touring Europe, Dawson visits England, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. He describes the art and architecture he sees, places he stayed, a visit to Madame Guillier's, and various other tourist activities in which he engaged. He refers to meetings with John Singer Sargent, Arthur B. Davies, Albert Pinkham Ryder (p. 27-28,) and Gertrude Stein who bought one of his paintings (p.24). Returning to Chicago, Dawson records his desire to break from traditional painting, his experiments with abstraction, his disappointment that people neither understood nor appreciated his work, his frustration at not having enough time to paint, and his desire to see architecture take a more modern turn. He describes his continuing relations with Davies; the Armory Show and its potential impact on American art; meeting Walter Pach; his departure from the architectural firm Holabird and Roche; working for short periods at W.K. Cowan, for McArthur, and for Nachtegal; the opening of the "Fourteen" exhibition in Detroit in 1914; setting up the Milwaukee exhibition with Dudley Crafts Watson; spending summers on the family farm, with visits from Jerome Blum and his wife; and the occasional sales of his paintings. In 1914 he decides to marry a farm girl and try fruit farming in Ludington, Mich. He makes intermittent attempts to paint and sculpt but decides that the farm and art "don't mix." In 1939 he takes up painting again, writes about his disappointment with Walter Pach, and expresses his hopes for a better future.

Microfilm reel(s): Microfilm reel 64, frames 869-991.

Location of Originals: Original privately owned.

Forms Part of: Manierre Dawson papers