Maynard Dixon (1875-1946),
Lazy Autumn, 1943, oil on canvas, 25 3/8 x 30 inches. Brigham Young University Museum of Art, gift of Gene L. Jones and Hazel Anna Smith, 1981.
People and horses find cool shelter from the scorching noonday sun under a large cottonwood tree, the only patch of shade in this sun-filled picture. There is a feeling of repose in the painting, partly because of the geometric structure of the composition. A dominant triangular shape made up of the teepee, tree trunk, and shadow fills the center of the painting, and its angles are repeated in the teepee itself, as well as the inward-leaning slopes of the hillside. Many horizontal lines across the canvas in a range of harmonious colors also add to the sense of stability and peace. Dixon painted this work near the end of his life when he divided his time between homes in southern Utah and Tucson.