Dixon

Francis S. Dixon was born into a New York family of immense influence and wealth. His grandfather, served from 1857 to 1869 as the United States Senator from Connecticut. 1917), and his father was a noted Civil War officer, respected journalist, and a prominent resident of Flushing, Long Island. He was named for his mother, Frances Stillwell (1856 - 1942), who was a descendant of one of the early settlers of Gravesend, Brooklyn.

By age twenty Francis was already considered a fine painter and artist. He studied at the Art Students League, NYC and with the noted artists Frank Vincent DuMond (1865-1951), Robert Henri (1865-1929), Charles W. Hawthorne (1872-1930), and Herbert S. Twachtman. Dixon traveled to California in 1915 before returning to New York in 1917. In the early to mid 1920's he also traveled to Bermuda and Europe. During his time in California he is known to have stayed at both Carmel and Point Lobos, though only a few works depicting these areas have come to light. One of these early paintings called The Leaning Tree, painted in Point Lobos, is in the permanent collection at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, and included in Elizabeth Kornhauser’s, “American Paintings before 1945”.

Dixon exhibited prominently along the east coast, at The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Salmagundi Club, National Academy of Design, New York, and many others. He died in New York City at his residence at the age of eighty-eight. His works are held in the following institutions: Morgan Memorial, Hartford, CT; Wadsworth Athenaeum, Hartford, CT; and many other public and private collections. His current auction high is $22,800 at Shannon’s in 2006.

Sources include: American Paintings before 1945: Elizabeth Kornhauser; Edan Milton Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940; Morgan Memorial (Hartford, CT). Who's Who in American Art 1940-47; SCA; New York Times, 1-7-1967 (obit).