Artist

William de Leftwich Dodge

born Liberty, VA 1867-died New York City 1935
Media - J0001488_1b.jpg - 87663
William de Leftwich Dodge, © Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum J0001488
Also known as
  • W. de Leftwich Dodge
Born
Liberty, Virginia, United States
Died
New York, New York, United States
Biography

William de Leftwich Dodge was born in Bedford, Virginia, but spent most of his childhood and adolescence between Paris and Munich where his mother resided to pursue her art study.

In 1895 he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he studied with Jean-Léon Gérôme. At age nineteen he was awarded the gold medal of the American Art Association for a history painting depicting the death of Minnehaha, the subject of Longfellow's popular poem, Hiawatha. This and other of his figurative work was painted from life and based on careful research to ensure its historical accuracy. In 1893, while still very young, he was commissioned to decorate the dome of the central building of the Colombian Exposition, the famous "White City" in Chicago.

He emerged as one of the most prominent muralists of the era, at a time when murals were regarded as an essential element of most public architecture, theaters, municipal buildings, and even some private homes.

In 1906 he designed and had built for his use the classical Villa Francesca at Setauket, Long Island, a small corner of which is depicted in this painting.

Emery Battis Artist Biographies for the exhibition American Impressionism: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2000)

Works by this artist (4 items)

Earl Pardon, Box Ring, ca. 1960, sterling silver, ebony, ivory and amethyst, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Renwick Acquisitions Fund, 2003.20
Box Ring
Dateca. 1960
sterling silver, ebony, ivory and amethyst
Not on view
Earl Pardon, Bracelet #1962, 1991, sterling silver, 14k gold, enamels with gilt, blue and yellow topaz, amethysts, rhodolite, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance, Linda Lichtenberg Kaplan and Dr. Louis D. Kaplan in honor of Kenneth R. Trapp, and Colleen and John Kotelly, 2003.40
Bracelet #1962
Date1991
sterling silver, 14k gold, enamels with gilt, blue and yellow topaz, amethysts, rhodolite
Not on view
Earl Pardon, Necklace, ca. 1976, 14K gold, ivory, coral, jasper and painted wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Eugene Kaplan in memory of Pearl Rappaport Kaplan, a Renwick Gallery docent from 1981 to 1991 and museum purchase through the Renwick Acquisitions Fund, 1992.6
Necklace
Dateca. 1976
14K gold, ivory, coral, jasper and painted wood
Not on view
Earl Pardon, Necklace #1057, 1988, sterling silver, 14k gold, ebony, ivory, enamel, mother of pearl, ruby, garnet, blue topaz, rhodolite, amethyst, and spinel, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the James Renwick Alliance and museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1991.136
Necklace #1057
Date1988
sterling silver, 14k gold, ebony, ivory, enamel, mother of pearl, ruby, garnet, blue topaz, rhodolite, amethyst, and spinel
Not on view