Joey's House: A Study of Maynard Dixon's Painting “No Place to Go”

During the great depression, feelings of despair and hopelessness could be witnessed in every part of the nation. There wasn't one region of the United States that didn't see the effects of that period in history. It left society destitute and without a cause to rejoice in the future. Maynard Dixon's painting “No Place to Go” summarizes the melancholy emotion felt across the entire nation.

In order to better understand the context and significance of this painting, it is important to look at Dixon's background and upbringing. He was born in Fresno, California in 1875 to aristocratic ex-confederates. Because of his wealthy upbringing he excelled artistically and was able to attend the California School of Design. Dixon quickly became associated as a painter of western art early on in his career. He took trips through the west on horseback and used the open landscapes as themes in many of his paintings. His western style of clothing added to his image as a painter of the west. Many of his paintings were included in Clarence Mulford's books about the western hero Hopalong Cassidy.

After marrying his first wife he moved to New York but only lived there for a short time. While in New York, he moved away from impressionism and adopted a more simplistic, modernist style. His paintings become more simplistic and bold, focusing less on detail and more on design, color and self expression. New York's hectic lifestyle seemed to wear down on the western artist. He longed for vast landscapes and cowboy culture. The elitist style of New York had demoralized him. Fed up with the east coast, Dixon returned to San Francisco only to find tougher times ahead of him. The depression had hit San Francisco and inspired Dixon to take on a new style of painting.

Affected and inspired by the many images he saw across the west of men left desolate, his paintings strived to capture the mood of these people. He adopted the style of social modernism and would illustrate many themes that represented the hardships of the depression. The painting, “No Place to Go” is one of these many illustrations.

The painting depicts a man at the top of a hill. His head is tilted downward and his composition is darkened. As the beholder moves his eye to the left, the altitude of the painting drops into a dark valley. The ocean that lies beyond the darkened valley is lit up by the setting sun. The painting transitions from a sunset lit hill, to a dark valley, and then to an ocean that fades into the horizon. The painting is two dimensional and very distilled which reflects its modernist style. The variation of colors are not complex and the brush strokes are quite basic. Although the painting addresses the social problems of the depression, Dixon's skill in painting landscapes shines through in the way that he combines the diminishing line of the sloped hill with the steep sides of the valley's mountains. The line where the ocean meets the horizon is set above the mountains below which emphasizes the height at which the man stands. The fence that leads down to the dark valley is made up of contorted pieces of wood that aren't evenly spaced nor aligned. The man's face doesn't provide much detail which is consistent with urban modernist paintings.

The descending pattern of the painting represents the decline of the nation's morale. The man is at the highest part of the painting which represents America's wealth at the end of the twenties. The dark valley below that lies before the man represents the hard times of the depression through which the man will have to pass through. He is left with no other options, no other alternatives and no other paths but the one that lies before him. It gives a biblical representation of the valley of the shadow of death. It's the lowest, darkest part of the painting and it creates a mysterious, grim mood for the entire scene. The fence that leads down to the valley is tattered and made up of misshapen boards which implies the lives that have fallen apart because of the depression.

The ocean that lies beyond the valley has multiple representations. One representation of the ocean could be a watery grave or tragic ending of the valley's effects on the man. At times the ocean represents the end of one's life which translates to the end of a story. Another representation of the ocean could be a new beginning. The symbol that the ocean could give to the viewer could be that of the unknown. The ocean is strange and unfamiliar to many which represents the possibility of hope and a new life for the man that sits atop the hill. The sun that sits on the horizon helps to further the argument of the ocean being a sign of hope. Which ever of the two meanings is actually implied, the fact that the man must pass through the valley still remains.

The painting “No Place to Go” is part of a series of paintings by Dixon that represent the “forgotten man”. In these paintings the men “are strangers, lonely, anonymous, alienated, temporary inhabitants of inhospitable environments” (Hagerty 208). Many of the men represented in these paintings represent inflicted individuals but they all have a rugged characteristic to them. They represent a tragic hero whose stance and composition show that they are weathered men but capable of the trials that lie before them. The man in the image “No Place to Go” has a pack slung about his broad shoulder that is held securely by his large, rough hand. The lines of his face are sharp and pointed slightly downwards toward the valley showing that he is mentally preparing himself to make the journey.

Dixon's relationship with his second wife, Dorothea Lange, helped to further his inspiration in painting the “forgotten man”. Lange was a documentary photographer and photojournalist who tried to capture similar images of the great depression. It is interesting that such a depressing and trying time as the great depression brought the two close together in purpose and unified them as artists and a couple. However, Dixon's and Lange's motives and drives to capture scenes of the depression differed. While Lange took pictures for propaganda and political reasons, Dixon pursued his paintings “because he was a humanitarian attracted to dramatic causes” (Hagerty 203). His drive and purpose was to capture the art of the scene and the times. The fact that he was brought up aristocratically and then witnessed the hardships of the depression fascinated Dixon and gave him more reason to capture the victims of this time in history. It seems as if it was his way of trying to understand people less privileged than he was.

Dixon's social modernist paintings of the “forgotten man” were a defining part of career. However, they weren't a prosperous part of his career at the time he painted them. Dixon exhibited many of these paintings at the San Francisco's Artist's Cooperative Gallery and other exhibitions. Although he received attention from San Francisco newspapers and the public, Dixon's paintings received little recognition from the art community. He also had a difficult time selling his paintings. The public wasn't interested in buying depressing scenes of a decade that no one wanted to recollect.

Maynard Dixon's “forgotten man” paintings represent a persona that was deeply affected by the great depression. Dixon's skill in capturing the man's emotion in the painting “No Place to Go” shows his capability in displaying human emotion and character. It brings heroism and bravery to the people of the great depression.