Cattle Country (California Coast Range)

Maynard Dixon’s brilliantly colored works emphasize the grandeur of the vast Western landscape. His distinctive painting style is characterized by a high-keyed palette and modernist approach, which beautifully emphasizes the unique topographies across the range of locales depicted throughout his career. In the present work, Cattle Country (California Coast Range), cattlemen and their herd are dwarfed by the expansive rolling hills of his home state, painted with an extraordinary balance of complementary colors, with special attention to the juxtaposition of sunlight and shadow. Like many Western artists, Dixon first began his career as an illustrator, working with Century, Scribner's, and McClure's before turning to easel painting in the early decades of the 20th century. The present work represents his mature painting style, modern in approach and timeless in subject.