ARTIST: Dixie Hampson Durham (Arkansas, Virginia, 1913 - 2010)
NAME: Memphis Street Scene
MEDIUM: oil on canvas
CONDITION: Missing a few flakes of paint. Minor craquelure. No visible inpaint under UV light.
SIGHT SIZE: 22 x 28 inches / 55 x 71 cm
FRAME SIZE: 25 x 31 inches / 63 x 78 cm
SIGNATURE: lower right
CATEGORY: antique vintage painting
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SKU#: 120861
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BIOGRAPHY:
Dixie Hampson Durham came into this environment at the age of nine when her father, the Dr. James K. Hampson, brought his family back to the old Hampson Home after some years at Fort Smith, Arkansas, where Dixie was born, and later California, where Mrs. Hampson recovered from an illness.Here at The Nodena Plantation, the Hampsons found new happiness in an atmosphere of tranquility and culture. There were good books to read, evening chess games before the great log fire and excitement of entertaining visitors and distinguished scientists who often came to the Hampson Home to study Dr. Hampson's remarkable collection of archaeological treasures unearthed with his own hands from the nearby fields. Today there is a Hampson Museum not far from Dixie's Home.Imaginative and sensitive, Dixie soon turned to the sketch book and paint box. Often on a summer morning she sketched in her yard in the shadow of the century-old log stockade built in 1842 by General John Harding for protection against the lawless robber gangs that terrorized eastern Arkansas.Dixie attended public schools at nearby Wilson and Osceola. She received her first formal art training at James Lee Art Academy (now the Memphis Art Academy) in Memphis, and later enrolled at Southeast Missouri State Teachers College. Followed a session of study under Jerry Farnsworth, at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, Florida. She also attended Memphis Academy of Art where she received instruction from Mario Bachelli and Martha Turner. In recent years she has studied with Paul Penczner in Memphis.Although the artist gained knowledge from those various sources, she returned to Nodena to paint on her own terms the subjects she loves so well. Eight years ago her paintings began to attract patrons. Her simple, earthy themes speaking the language of the open fields and humble folk, have caught the fancy of many viewers. Her painting Ten Feet Wide was voted the most popular picture in the 1958 American Art Week show at the Hotel Peabody in Memphis.Her painting titled Flood won the J. N. Heiskell Award at the recent Art Festival Show in Little Rock, Arkansas. One of her paintings hangs in the Governors Mansion in Little Rock today.