Manierre Dawson

The Chicago-born, self-taught Manierre Dawson made his mark on abstraction in the early twentieth century, using techniques that merged his mastery of mechanical drawing with geometric and mathematical themes and a bright, rich color palette. In his early years, Dawson studied structural engineering, a practice which informed his later abstract explorations of dimensional space. These compositions were seen as revolutionary when they were first exhibited in the years surrounding the Armory Show. Drawing on influences from Paul Cézanne to the Old Masters, Dawson then embarked on the most prolific period of his career, creating works described as “Cubist Transliterations,” which integrated Old Master references into nonrepresentational painting.

 

In 1914, Dawson faded from the spotlight when he moved away from the incendiary art scene and relocated to Michigan. As such, the work Dawson created from 1910 to 1914 was hugely important to the development of abstraction in America, however it went relatively unknown. Though Dawson did not stop painting after 1914, the preceding years emerged as crucial to his development of a unique style, and one that would anticipate the work of the Abstract Expressionists some 30 years later. Today, Dawson’s work is included in prominent public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among several others.