Dixon Gallery and Gardens: A Memphis Belle!
Written: Apr 07 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Grand esteate, beautiful gardens, and fabulous Impressionist paintings.
Cons: Hours not wildly convenient.
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| vickie's Full Review: Memphis |
If you can possibly make the time to visit the Dixon, do so! I was surprised, on a recent trip, to find that few of the Memphis residents I met had ever visited here! There are 3 separate and equally spectacular parts to this visit: the house, the gardens and the art galleries.
THE HOUSE:
The house was designed by Houston architect John Staub in 1940 and completed in 1941. Margaret and Hugo Dixon lived in the house and, having no children, donated it to a trust for the benefit of the community after their death. The house is in the Georgian Revival style, characterized by the floor plan and the hipped roof, windows and doors. The porches are reminiscent of the Greek revival designs by the 19th century American architect Robert Mills. Opened to the public as a museum in 1976, a wing (gallery) was added to house the Fine Arts Collection. A second addition was added in 1986, doubling the size of the complex and adding an auditorium, galleries for visiting exhibitions and a museum shop.
The house and galleries contain a wonderful collection of French and American Impressionists as well as an impressive collection of decorative arts. The strength of the decorative arts collection is the 18th century German porcelain as well as a collection of 3 centuries of pewter from the US. I'm not a big fan of decorative arts so I chose to focus on the paintings. In addition to the quality of the collection, their exhibition within the rooms of the house is noteworthy. They fit into the décor perfectly and are handsomely complemented by the large arrangements of fresh flowers in each room.
The living room and dining room were my favorites. The living room was hung with paintings by a number of important Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists. In 1994, the Dixon purchased over 50 works by the artist Jean-Louis Forain, who was an admirer of Edgar Degas' style and subject matter. I particularly loved Forain's "The Ball" (1885), a watercolor with chalk, pastel, pencil and ink on wove paper, and "Woman with a Fan" (1883), a pastel on paper. In addition to the Forains, I loved the Alfred Sisley " The Seine at Billancourt" (1877-78) and Pierre August Renoir's "The Picture Book" (1895). In addition to the paintings, the living room had many fine decorative pieces from the porcelain collection and some "drop dead" pieces of sculpture. My favorite sculpture was the Auguste Rodin "Young Girl with Flowers in her Hair" (1865-70), a bronze bust.
The dining room was furnished in the style of the Dixons when they used to entertain here. The floral arrangement on the mirror-topped dining table was UNBELIEVABLE! It was all shades of yellow and included fresia, Japanese iris, forsythia and others and its wonderful aroma permeated every corner of the room. This room also displayed pieces from the painting collection. My favorites were Chaim Soutine's "Landscape at Cagnes (1922); Paul Cezanne's "Trees and Rocks, Near the Chateau Noir" (1900-06); and Marc Chagall's "Dreamer" (1945).
THE GARDENS:
The Gardens were carefully carved out of 17 acres of native Tennessee woodlands. Reflecting Mr. Dixon's English heritage, they were landscaped in the manner of an English park with open vistas and formal gardens among large oak and hickory trees. Mr. Dixon created the Gardens with the assistance of his sister, Hope Crutchfield, an English landscape designer living in Vermont. They based the Gardens on a cross-axis plan with the major north-south axis running through the middle of the South Lawn and with the house and a sculpture, "Europa and the Bull", at either end. At the base of the Garden a long, continuous vista runs east and west, crossing the center axis in front of a group of sculpture called "The Four Seasons." A sculpture called "The Venus of Memphis marks one end of this vista and The Terrace, an area for small concerts and outdoor meetings marks the other end.
I can't do justice to the description of this Garden. There is a carefully planned sequence of discovery throughout. Only a small portion of the Gardens is visible from any one viewpoint. Frequently, a wide open area will lead into a small intimate space that is very secluded. I walked around and stopped and sat in several locations for several minutes at a time. The view was completely different at each of my stops!
There is a fabulous canopy of old hardwood trees that is a focal point for the South Lawn. These fabulous old trees are all labeled so you can identify them easily. The Dixons added an understory layer of dogwoods, azaleas, hemlocks and boxwood. These were budding and beginning to bloom during my early spring visit and it was breathtaking. The azaleas near the house are all white, color is added as the distance from the house increases, as was Mrs. Dixon's pleasure.
In addition to the above, the property includes the Memphis Garden Club Cutting Garden, designed in 1998. It is planted with annuals, biennials and perennials that provide the cut flowers used in the floral arrangements within the residence and the galleries. Featured at the West end is the Victorian style Canale Conservatory which houses camellias, gardenias and other tropical plants.
THE GALLERIES:
In addition to displaying portions of the permanent collection of decorative arts, the galleries are a showcase for temporary and travelling art exhibitions. At the time of my visit the feature was "Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit of Art Nouveau." The was first major exhibition in the U.S. of this type of collection since 1921.It featured 150 of Mucha's most important paintings posters, decorative panels, jewelry, sculpture, pastels, drawings and illustrations. It will be followed by: "The Beauty of Botanicals: The Shirley Sherwood Collection of Contemporary Botanicals," which includes more than 100 watercolors, oils and acrylics, representing artists from 17countries. Also coming this spring is "Botanically Expressed: Flowers and Art 2000." This is one of only nine major flower chows sanctioned by The Garden Club of America.
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Dixon and encourage others to stop by. For more information about the Dixon Gallery and Gardens and their upcoming events, check out www.dixon.org.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
vickie
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Location: Waltham, MA
Reviews written: 75
Trusted by: 113 members
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