Raised on a cotton farm near present-day Mesquite, Texas, Otis Dozier’s work is deeply personal and illuminates a vital moment in Texas history. Active in the 1930s and 1940s, Dozier was a seminal member of the Dallas Nine, a group of regional artists who sought inspiration from their rural surroundings, including despondent farmers affected by the Great Depression. Pastoral and agricultural studies encompass a large portion of Dozier’s work, as his early affinity for both wildlife and nature only grew after a move to bustling, cosmopolitan Dallas. In this close, almost scientific rendering of a maize plant, Dozier captures the brilliant kernel texture and husk color of a solitary stalk standing in a barren, dust field.

Excerpt from

Erin Pinon, DMA label text, 2016

• Dozier, Otis, Texas State Historical Association Biography
  Read more about Otis Dozier on the Handbook of Texas Online (published by the Texas State Historical Association).