Lois Dodd: Windows

Exhibition Website

Dodd was part of the wave of New York artists to explore the coast of Maine after the second World War, and spent many summers in the Mid-Coast region surrounding Penobscot Bay. The artist was attracted to the rambling old farm houses, verant fields, and bright sunshine of a summer's day. For Dodd, being there provided her the freedom to concentrate of the depiction of rich vegetation and crumbling structures that make Maine so attractive, as seen in her works. 

Lois Dodd's representational paintings of windows and doors reflect her aesthetic and use of spontaneous abbreviation as her painterly language, and never sacrifices form or coloristic detail. Dodd had set out to find and frame her subject matter, "the everyday"; something quiet and original that can be deeply felt through her work. Her earlier works are largely devoid of human figures, and focuses instead on the role of viewpoint in her paintings. 

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.

 Whether or not you go, Lois Dodd: Catching the Light offers the first comprehensive overview of Dodd’s art in full-color reproductions, photographic documentation and essays. Over the past 50 years, American painter Lois Dodd (born 1927) has been recording the quieter moments of everyday life on New York’s Lower East Side and in mid-coast Maine, infusing the modernist tradition of plein air painting with Shaker-like qualities of modesty, airiness and quiet elegance. Views from city windows, gentle scenes of washing lines in back gardens, the artist’s shadow on a summer lawn with her painting tools at the far edge of the image: these objects of the painter’s attention declare themselves while leaving room to breathe for both viewer and artist.

Lois Dodd: Catching the Light

  • Painting
  • American
  • 20th Century
  • Lois Dodd

Exhibition Venues & Dates