20th-Century Maynard Dixon Oil Painting

Appraised on: July 20, 2002

Appraised in: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Appraised by: Colleene Fesko

Category: Paintings & Drawings

Episode Info: Fame & Fortune (#1016)
Albuquerque, Hour 1 (#701)

Originally Aired: January 6, 2003

IMAGE: 1 of 1  

Appraisal Video: (1:31)

GUEST: Well, this painting was given to my grandparents, because Maynard was my grandfather's first cousin, so there's a very personal attachment to it. Maynard died before I was around, but...

APPRAISER: What is the scene?

GUEST: Well, it's called The Old Stage Station, and I really don't know very much about it. I'm thinking it was probably in Arizona, but I don't know.

APPRAISER: Well, Maynard Dixon had a really interesting career. He was born in 1875, I believe, in California. And in the beginning of his career, up until the '20s, was a fairly commercial artist, and then after his marriage, actually, to Dorothea Lange, he decided to really break out, and that's in the '20s, when he did the fabulous western scenes with the Navajo and the Hopi Indians and the great, great expanses of the West. Uh, they write about Maynard Dixon as really understanding the space and the loneliness of the West, and in this later piece, I think we can see that, too. This is kind of where the interesting part of valuing a painting comes in. Maynard Dixon's great period, right now, is those great Native American scenes of the '20s, from the '20s...you know, 1920 to '29, these vast scenes. One recently sold for over a million dollars. They're estimated often between $300,000 and $600,000. Tremendously valuable paintings. As a later example of his work, I'd estimate the painting at between $30,000 and $50,000.

GUEST: Well, thank you very much.

APPRAISER: Thanks for coming.