Dublin Core
Title
Description
A house is pictured by itself, but what makes it lonely? Many small details, along with Dwight's stylized composition, supply the answer. The building's stone walls still look sturdy, but its chimneys and shutters are in ill-repair; trees extended over its roof haven't been pruned in some time. There may be some kind of animal perched there. We can discern traces of former caretaking, like the posts of a fence and specimen plantings that are overgrown. What seems to be a conservatory or greenhouse is visible at right, above it an enigmatic cruciform object. Dwight's brushstrokes are create soft, even pillowy masses of foliage, clouds, and even furrows in the road--quite incongruous with the sense of abandonment that may be compared with Dorothy Varian's Deserted House (1935). Here, the sky's mottled lighting is reproduced upon the landscape below, with only a pair of lighted windows at left to suggest any remaining inhabitants. In just a few years Virginia Wade Burton's children's book, The Little House (1942), would teach readers to identify with an abandoned home that seems to already inform Dwight's print.
About the Artist
Born Mabel Jacque Williamson in Cincinnati, OH, Dwight was one of the more controversial and prolific lithographers of her time. She studied painting at the Hopkins School of Art in San Francisco, CA in her twenties, travelling to Paris, Egypt, India, and other destinations after her studies. She married Eugene Higgins in 1906 before divorcing in 1921, when she changed her last name to Dwight (for reasons unknown). Even before making art full time, she had become a champion of socialist art and ideals, inspired by her time in college. “I was born with a hatred for the duality of poverty and riches,” she recalled. In 1926, at the age of fifty, Dwight began making her first lithographs and by 1928 her work was displayed at the Weyhe Gallery in New York City. Dwight’s main subjects were the ordinary residents of New York City, depicting their lives during 1920s opulence and then the Great Depression. Dwight’s lithographs offered an unflinching, documentary view that was suffused with social commentary. As she later explained, “There are always artists who cannot be satisfied with the credo of art for art’s sake. They must tell stories, express opinions, and ‘take sides’” (“Satire in Art” 151). Dwight observed, however, that the great satirists like William Hogarth rarely made use of “arbitrary distortion,” and her lithographs usually had realistic and inclusive features—such as rounded forms and subtle lighting—that create unity among its subjects. Dwight brought complex social issues to an accessible medium with subtlety and artistic integrity. Dwight was employed by the Federal Art Project (1935-1939) and was a member of the American Artists’ Congress, which championed socialist policies and promoted artists’ rights. By the end of her career in 1941, she had created more than a hundred lithographs collected at a variety of museums and universities. 27 works at Whitney Museum of American Art. 19 works at Metropolitan Museum of Art. 20 works at Smithsonian American Art Museum. 23 works at Amon Carter Museum. 20 works at National Gallery of Art. 10 images at FAP.
Works Consulted:Mabel Dwight, “Satire in Art," in Art for the Millions: Essays from the 1930s by Artists and Administrators of the WPA Federal Art Project, ed. Francis V. O'Connor (1973) Link; David Herman. “Mabel Dwight: Art as a Living Influence on the World,” Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (2026) Link; Library of Congress, Life of the People: Realist Prints and Drawings from the Ben and Beatrice Goldstein collection, 1912-1948 (1999) Link
About the Artist
Born Mabel Jacque Williamson in Cincinnati, OH, Dwight was one of the more controversial and prolific lithographers of her time. She studied painting at the Hopkins School of Art in San Francisco, CA in her twenties, travelling to Paris, Egypt, India, and other destinations after her studies. She married Eugene Higgins in 1906 before divorcing in 1921, when she changed her last name to Dwight (for reasons unknown). Even before making art full time, she had become a champion of socialist art and ideals, inspired by her time in college. “I was born with a hatred for the duality of poverty and riches,” she recalled. In 1926, at the age of fifty, Dwight began making her first lithographs and by 1928 her work was displayed at the Weyhe Gallery in New York City. Dwight’s main subjects were the ordinary residents of New York City, depicting their lives during 1920s opulence and then the Great Depression. Dwight’s lithographs offered an unflinching, documentary view that was suffused with social commentary. As she later explained, “There are always artists who cannot be satisfied with the credo of art for art’s sake. They must tell stories, express opinions, and ‘take sides’” (“Satire in Art” 151). Dwight observed, however, that the great satirists like William Hogarth rarely made use of “arbitrary distortion,” and her lithographs usually had realistic and inclusive features—such as rounded forms and subtle lighting—that create unity among its subjects. Dwight brought complex social issues to an accessible medium with subtlety and artistic integrity. Dwight was employed by the Federal Art Project (1935-1939) and was a member of the American Artists’ Congress, which championed socialist policies and promoted artists’ rights. By the end of her career in 1941, she had created more than a hundred lithographs collected at a variety of museums and universities. 27 works at Whitney Museum of American Art. 19 works at Metropolitan Museum of Art. 20 works at Smithsonian American Art Museum. 23 works at Amon Carter Museum. 20 works at National Gallery of Art. 10 images at FAP.
Works Consulted:Mabel Dwight, “Satire in Art," in Art for the Millions: Essays from the 1930s by Artists and Administrators of the WPA Federal Art Project, ed. Francis V. O'Connor (1973) Link; David Herman. “Mabel Dwight: Art as a Living Influence on the World,” Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (2026) Link; Library of Congress, Life of the People: Realist Prints and Drawings from the Ben and Beatrice Goldstein collection, 1912-1948 (1999) Link
Creator
Dwight, Mabel (1876-1955)
Publisher
Date
Contributor
Cooper, Ken (description)
Helquist, Morgan (photography)
Helquist, Morgan (photography)
Source
New Deal Museum, Mount Morris NY
Object #FA 1194
Object #FA 1194
Format
jpeg, 2.3 MB
jpeg, 714 KB
jpeg, 714 KB
Type
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Lithograph on paper
Physical Dimensions
Image: 14 3/8 x 10 1/4 in.
Framed: 21 x 17 in.
Framed: 21 x 17 in.