Oil on Canvas

Lovely turquoise expressionist abstract painting by Texas artist Dickson Reeder. Oil on Canvas painting, titled "Geraldine Smaragderine", and dated 1960. Signed and dated in lower right corner. Hung in a silver frame.

Edward Dickson Reeder, artist, was born on February 6, 1912, in Fort Worth, the first child of Dean W. and Edwina (Dickson) Reeder. He began to study drawing and painting with Sallie Blythe Mummert and Sallie Gillespie while still in elementary school. After graduating from Central (later Paschal) High School in Fort Worth in 1930, he left for two years of study at the Art Students League in New York City, where he attended the classes of portraitist Ivan Olinsky, among others. Reeder returned to Fort Worth for a year and in 1933 traveled to Taxco, Guerrero, Mexico, where he studied with the portrait painter Wayman Adams. In the mid-1930s Reeder traveled and worked in Ireland, London, and Paris. During this period he began to exhibit his work by participating in the Southern States Art League exhibitions in 1934, 1938, and 1939 and the Biennial at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1939. In Paris he studied abstract painting with Alexandra Exter, who also designed for the Ballet Russe. In 1937 he met Flora Blanc, an artist working with Fernand Leger, and together they studied printmaking at Atelier 17, a workshop run by Stanley William Hayter that was frequented by Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, and Joan Miró. On December 11, 1937, Flora Blanc and Dickson Reeder were married in New York City. They lived in the Chelsea district painting and illustrating books until 1940, when they moved to Fort Worth. There Reeder painted and taught, first at Texas Wesleyan College and later at Our Lady of Victory College. In 1942 he and his wife had a son. Both Dickson and Flora Reeder were active members of the Fort Worth Art Association. In 1945 the Reeders established the Reeder School of Theater and Design for Children. For the next few years Reeder devoted much of his time to teaching, designing, and coproducing the school's annual plays, although he also continued to exhibit his work and paint portraits on commission. His fall from a bridge in Sneden's Landing, New York, in 1947 seriously injured one of his hip joints, which required a series of operations. Reeder worked in pastels, watercolors, gouache, and oils; he was also an accomplished etcher and engraver. His style ranged from representative portraits, nudes, and mysterious figurative paintings to abstract works. His interest in music, theater, and dance undoubtedly influenced his frequent selection of oriental, medieval, and Renaissance themes. Reeder continued to work after becoming ill in 1969. He died on May 8, 1970. He has been the subject of three posthumous retrospective exhibitions. In 1988 the city of Fort Worth declared February 11 "Dickson and Flora Reeder Day" in recognition of their service to the city.

H 31 in. x W 26 in. x D 2.25 in.