American, 1891 - 1978
Dickinson grew up in Buffalo, New York, in the cultured atmosphere provided by his father, a Presbyterian minister, and spent summers in the dramatic landscape of the Finger Lake region at Sheldrake, New York. Although in his youth he devoted much of his time and attention to drawing, his first ambition was to become a naval officer. However when he failed to be admitted to the United States Naval Academy, he turned to art.
In the autumn of 1910 he entered the Pratt Institute in New York, where he studied for one year. The following year he studied at the Art Students League under William Merritt Chase and Frank Vincent DuMond; in December 1912 he was admitted to the Academy school, but was suspended at the close of term for not submitting a drawing for examination--a not uncommon practice among NAD students. Dickinson returned home in the academic year 1912-13 to study at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. But the more significant aspect of Dickinson's period of training was his off-season experience. The summer of 1912 was his introduction to the Cape Cod School of Art and working under Charles Hawthorne; he was back in Provincetown the next summer, and remained there until 1917 except for the summer of 1916 when he taught at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. Dickinson always credited Hawthorne with being his most influential teacher.
Dickinson's first one man exhibition was at the McDowell Club in New York, in 1917. With America's entrance into World War I in 1917, Dickinson was in New York studying telegraphy; he then enlisted in the Navy, and served on active duty until 1919. He then spent a year in Paris, studying at the Acad‚mie de la Grande Chaumiere, and visited Spain, before returning to Provincetown in 1920, where he essentially remained, except for a season spent teaching at the Art Students League, 1922-23, into the mid-1930s. In Buffalo he had maintained a close relationship with his childhood friends, Ansley and Esther Sawyer, who became his most loyal advocates and patrons; 1934 and 1935 were spent painting in the Sawyer's studio in Buffalo. For the year 1937-38 he was in France; and he was again teaching at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1938-39.
Yet when not away traveling or teaching, Dickinson returned to Cape Cod. In 1939 he made his commitment to the area permanent with the purchase of a home in Wellfleet, near Provincetown, where he remained year-round until 1944. Thereafter winters were passed in New York where Dickinson was intensely involved in teaching: at the Art Students League, 1945-66; at Cooper Union, 1945-49; at the Brooklyn Museum School, 1950-58. For the year 1954-55 he was a member of the Academy Council. Beginning in 1960 Dickinson spent much time in the Eastern Mediterranean and in Greece. The decade of winters following his retirement from teaching in 1966 were passed in Greece.
Dickinson's somber-toned, introspective paintings, characterized by complex perspective spaces and compositional juxtapositionings which suggest relationships to both cubism and surrealism, steadily gained an appreciative audience. The Albright Gallery, Buffalo, presented a one-man exhibition of Dickinson's work in 1929; in New York, his work was shown annually by the Passedoit Gallery from 1936 to 1942. He was represented in an Academy exhibitions only twice prior to his election to membership: in the Winter exhibition of 1922, and in the Winter exhibition of 1929, when he submitted one of his most important works, The Fossil Hunters (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York) which was awarded an Altman Prize. In the annual exhibition of 1949 he received the Lockman prize, and in 1958 the Altman prize. In 1965 the Academy again honored the artist by nominating him to receive the Brevoort-Eickemeyer Prize, which is awarded once every five years by Columbia University for the life-time achievment of an artist selected by the Academy.
In the autumn of 1910 he entered the Pratt Institute in New York, where he studied for one year. The following year he studied at the Art Students League under William Merritt Chase and Frank Vincent DuMond; in December 1912 he was admitted to the Academy school, but was suspended at the close of term for not submitting a drawing for examination--a not uncommon practice among NAD students. Dickinson returned home in the academic year 1912-13 to study at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. But the more significant aspect of Dickinson's period of training was his off-season experience. The summer of 1912 was his introduction to the Cape Cod School of Art and working under Charles Hawthorne; he was back in Provincetown the next summer, and remained there until 1917 except for the summer of 1916 when he taught at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. Dickinson always credited Hawthorne with being his most influential teacher.
Dickinson's first one man exhibition was at the McDowell Club in New York, in 1917. With America's entrance into World War I in 1917, Dickinson was in New York studying telegraphy; he then enlisted in the Navy, and served on active duty until 1919. He then spent a year in Paris, studying at the Acad‚mie de la Grande Chaumiere, and visited Spain, before returning to Provincetown in 1920, where he essentially remained, except for a season spent teaching at the Art Students League, 1922-23, into the mid-1930s. In Buffalo he had maintained a close relationship with his childhood friends, Ansley and Esther Sawyer, who became his most loyal advocates and patrons; 1934 and 1935 were spent painting in the Sawyer's studio in Buffalo. For the year 1937-38 he was in France; and he was again teaching at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1938-39.
Yet when not away traveling or teaching, Dickinson returned to Cape Cod. In 1939 he made his commitment to the area permanent with the purchase of a home in Wellfleet, near Provincetown, where he remained year-round until 1944. Thereafter winters were passed in New York where Dickinson was intensely involved in teaching: at the Art Students League, 1945-66; at Cooper Union, 1945-49; at the Brooklyn Museum School, 1950-58. For the year 1954-55 he was a member of the Academy Council. Beginning in 1960 Dickinson spent much time in the Eastern Mediterranean and in Greece. The decade of winters following his retirement from teaching in 1966 were passed in Greece.
Dickinson's somber-toned, introspective paintings, characterized by complex perspective spaces and compositional juxtapositionings which suggest relationships to both cubism and surrealism, steadily gained an appreciative audience. The Albright Gallery, Buffalo, presented a one-man exhibition of Dickinson's work in 1929; in New York, his work was shown annually by the Passedoit Gallery from 1936 to 1942. He was represented in an Academy exhibitions only twice prior to his election to membership: in the Winter exhibition of 1922, and in the Winter exhibition of 1929, when he submitted one of his most important works, The Fossil Hunters (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York) which was awarded an Altman Prize. In the annual exhibition of 1949 he received the Lockman prize, and in 1958 the Altman prize. In 1965 the Academy again honored the artist by nominating him to receive the Brevoort-Eickemeyer Prize, which is awarded once every five years by Columbia University for the life-time achievment of an artist selected by the Academy.
