William de Leftwich Dodge (1867–1935) was an

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

n artist best known for his murals, which were commissioned for both public and private buildings.

Early life and education

Dodge was born at Liberty, Virginia in the Piedmont near Lynchburg. In 1879, his mother, Mary de Leftwich Dodge, an aspiring artist, moved her family to Europe. After living initially in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

they moved to Paris, where she worked on art. Dodge later followed her example and became an artist. He spent most of his childhood years in France, where his mother was working on art. He studied at the

École des Beaux Arts École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

and took first place in the examinations in 1881. He also studied under

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ra ...

and with

Raphaël Collin Louis-Joseph-Raphaël Collin (17 June 1850 – 21 October 1916) was a French painter born and raised in Paris, where he became a prominent academic painter and a teacher. He is principally known for the links he created between French and Japa ...

at the

Académie Colarossi The Académie Colarossi (1870–1930) was an art school in Paris founded in 1870 by the Italian model and sculptor Filippo Colarossi. It was originally located on the Île de la Cité, and it moved in 1879 to 10 rue de la Grande-Chaumière in the ...

, and traveled to Munich for studies there.

Career

Early commissions

Dodge received early commissions that gained him attention in the United States, first at the Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago where his mural "Glorification of the Arts and Sciences" adorned the interior dome of the Administration Building. The exposition was held to mark the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World. He was living in Paris when he applied for commissions for mural works for the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

, which he completed in 1895.

Move to New York City

After he and his family settled in New York, Dodge taught at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may st ...

and at

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique ...

. He became known as a muralist when the genre was at a peak of popularity, commissioned for major public buildings as well as hotels and mansions. Murals were seen as a kind of art that could reach directly to the people. Dodge drew on a variety of styles for his murals, settling on a heroic, neoclassical look. Achieving success with commissions for his murals, Dodge designed his family home in Setauket, Long Island, in 1906, the classical ''Villa Francesca,'' named after his wife. In his private work, Dodge's paintings show the influence of

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...

and

Fauvism Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...

. Toward the end of his career, Dodge became interested in

Mayan Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

art. His work is held in the permanent collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

and the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the ...

Personal life

De Leftwich's completion of a series of murals for the

in 1895 enabled him to marry Francesca (Fanny) Theodora Bland Pryor, daughter of Sara Agnes Rice Pryor and

Roger Atkinson Pryor Roger Atkinson Pryor (July 19, 1828 – March 14, 1919) was a Virginian newspaper editor and politician who became known for his fiery oratory in favor of secession; he was elected both to national and Confederate office, and served as a gen ...

of Virginia and New York. Her mother was a civic activist and author who published several books in the early 1900s; her father was an attorney and became a justice of the New York State Supreme Court. De Leftwich died at his New York City home at 52 West 9th Street in Manhattan. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York City.

Murals

Ceiling mosaic in the Surrogate's Courthouse (32325)a

Dodge's important murals include: * Murals for the Administration Building dome, designed by

Richard Morris Hunt Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of American architecture. He helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 entrance fa� ...

, at the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

in Chicago. * Murals for the Thomas Jefferson Building,

, Washington, D.C., circa 1895. * ''History of Canada'' murals for the

King Edward Hotel The Omni King Edward Hotel is a historic luxury hotel in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The hotel is located at 37 King Street East, and it occupies the entire block bounded by King Street on the north, Victoria Street on the east, Colborne ...

, Toronto, Ontario, the subject of a landmark artists' rights lawsuit, 1903. * Murals for the Onondaga County Court House,

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester. At the 2020 census, the city' ...

, 1904. * Four lobby murals for the Astor Hotel, depicting ''Ancient and Modern New York'', 1904. * Zodiac ceiling mosaic and other work, at the

Surrogate's Courthouse The Surrogate's Courthouse (also the Hall of Records and 31 Chambers Street) is a historic building at the northwest corner of Chambers and Centre Streets in the Civic Center of Manhattan in New York City. Completed in 1907, it was desi ...

(aka Hall of Records), New York City, circa 1905. * Mural for the

Algonquin Hotel The Algonquin Hotel is a hotel at 59 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The 181-room hotel, opened in 1902, was designed by architect Goldwin Starrett for the Puritan Realty Company. The hotel has hosted numer ...

, New York, 1906. * Works for a number of New York hotels and theaters, including three murals and the color scheme for the

Fulton Theatre/Helen Hayes Theatre The Fulton Theatre was a Broadway theatre located at 210 West 46th Street in Manhattan, New York City, that was opened in 1911. It was renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre in 1955. The theatre was demolished in 1982. Since the former Little Theatre be ...

, architects Herts & Tallant, 1911 (razed). * "Atlantic and Pacific", one of several murals he made for the Panama Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915. * Six murals for Buffalo City Hall, Buffalo, New York. Two large murals in the main entrance hall represent the city's role as a border city, while four murals at the end of hallways show the city's work in "Charity," "Protection," "Education," and "Construction." Completed 1931. * Ceiling murals of battle scenes, Governor's Reception Room,

New York State Capitol The New York State Capitol, the seat of the New York state government, is located in Albany, the capital city of the U.S. state of New York. The capitol building is part of the Empire State Plaza complex on State Street in Capitol Park. Housi ...

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...

. * Three murals in the Great Reading Room, Seerley Hall at the

University of Northern Iowa The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) is a public university in Cedar Falls, Iowa. UNI offers more than 90 majors across the colleges of Business administration, Business Administration, Education, Humanities, Arts, and Sciences, Social science ...

. The first is called ''In Memoriam,'' the second ''Education,'' and the third is a combination of three paintings, called ''The Glory and Grandeur of Iowa''. The three sections of the third are known as ''Agriculture,'' ''The Council of Indians,'' and ''The Commonwealth''.

Gallery

Image:dodgealbany2.jpg, Central panel, ceiling of the Governor's Reception Room at the

in Albany, 1929 Image:Dodge Sunlit Path.jpg, Sunlit Path, 1891 Image:DodgeVictorianWomanInWhite.jpg, Victorian Woman in White, 1891 Image:Painting Art Library WmDodge.jpg, Mural in

Jefferson building, 1896 Image:DodgeMeditation.jpg, Meditation, 1897 Image:LastDaysofTenochtitlanB.jpg, Last Days of Tenochtitlan (Tulane University -

New Orleans, LA New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, New York City File:Ceiling mosaic in the Surrogate's Courthouse (32331)c.jpg, Detail from the Surrogate's Courthouse mosaic, New York City

References

External links

Biography and photograph
Smithsonian American Art Museum site], links to more works
Dodge paintings at the Library of Congress
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dodge, William De Leftwich 1867 births 1935 deaths American muralists 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters Art Students League of New York faculty People from Bedford, Virginia Artists from Albany, New York American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts Académie Colarossi alumni Painters from New York City Painters from Virginia Cooper Union faculty Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)