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Dick Dodge
File:Dick Dodge.jpg
Dick Dodge
Born
Richard Staples Dodge

(1918-01-18)January 18, 1918
DiedMay 24, 1974(1974-05-24) (aged 57)
Nationality United States
EducationArt Center School (1937), Chouinard School (1938), Mills College (1939), Art Academy of Cincinnati (1939-1943)
Known forPainting, commercial art, illustration, children's literature, drawing, watercolor, sculpture

Richard Staples (Dick) Dodge (January 18, 1918 ‒ May 24, 1974) was an American artist and illustrator.

Biography[edit]

Born in Sacramento, California in 1918, Dick Dodge attended several colleges on scholarship, including the Art Center School, Chouinard School, and Mills College Summer Session where he studied with Lionel Feininger and Frederick Taubes. He then transferred to Cincinnati Art Academy beginning October 1939, attending on an out-of-town scholarship from the Arts Students League.

Dodge enlisted in the US Air Corps on October 27, 1942, serving at Patterson Air Field in Hamilton, Ohio for about 4 months before being honorably discharged due to health issues.

Following his service and resuming studies at Cincinnati Art Academy into the 1943 school year, Dodge accepted a position at Columbia Records in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where his friend James Flora had recently been hired by Alex Steinweiss. Recalling those early years at Columbia Records, Ginnie Hoffman recalled Flora saying, "Everything will be fine. Dick Dodge is here." According to multiple contemporary sources, Dodge was hired as Art Director when Flora was promoted to advertising executive. But it appears that Dodge never served in that role (or served only briefly), as Robert M. Jones became Art Director after Flora.[1][2]

Likely using his connections with Flora and Jones, who both later worked for RCA Victor (Jones as Art Director), Dodge contributed to the album (LP) catalog of both labels producing artwork for the covers and sleeves of material ranging from children's stories to popular song to classical music.

Dodge's commercial work also included periodicals, children's books, and dust jackets for dozens of titles published by Random House, Simon & Schuster, Harcourt Brace, and MacMillan. Notable examples of his children's book illustrations include Too Many Sisters and The First Book of Boys Cooking, both authored by Jerrold Beim. He illustrated several of the covers for P.G. Wodehouse books published by Simon & Schuster as well as Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis.

Between 1954 and 1958, Dodge contributed illustrations to Ford Times magazine, including the cover illustration of the December 1955 edition (Vol. 47, No. 12).[3]

Throughout his life, Dodge created artwork in many media and styles, with influences ranging from Regionalism to Abstract Expressionism. Dodge was an active member of the American Watercolor Society from 1956 until his death. According to his New York Times obituary, he was a charter member of the Artist Guild of Westport, Connecticut [4] as well as the Illustrators Society of New York.

Head's House[edit]

In the 1960s, Dick Dodge created dozens of geometric abstraction "head" sculptures.

In 2018, architect Frank Jacobus designed Heads House, located in Goshen, Arkansas, as an homage.

Selected Bibliography (Illustrator)[edit]

  • 1953 - Zorba the Greek [5]
  • 1954 - The Return of Jeeves [6]
  • 1955 - Bertie Wooster Sees It Through [7]
  • 1956 - The Butler Did It [8]
  • 1956 - Too Many Sisters [9]
  • 1957 - The First Book of Boys Cooking [10]
  • 1971 - Jeeves and the Tie That Binds [11]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

Category:1918 births Category:1974 deaths Category:American illustrators Category:Artists from California Category:Artists from Connecticut Category:Artists from New York Category:American children's book illustrators Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer Category:20th-century American painters Category:American male painters Category:People from Sacramento, California Category:Art Academy of Cincinnati alumni

  1. ^ Foard, Jean (August 29, 1948). "Dick Dodge, Designing Covers for Music Albums, Recounts His Years as a 'Typical American Boy'". The Bridgeport Sunday Post: B5.
  2. ^ "Personal Notes, Promotion Announcements". Broadcasting, The Weekly Newsmagazine of Radio (Broadcast Advertising): 44. September 18, 1944.
  3. ^ "Christmas Tree Highway (Cover)". Ford Times. December 1955.
  4. ^ Tarrant, Dorothy; Tarrant, John (1985). A Community of Artists 1900-1985. Westport: Westport-Weston Arts Center.
  5. ^ Kazantzakis, Nikos (1953). Zorba the Greek. New York: Simon & Schuster.
  6. ^ Wodehouse, P.G. (1954). The Return of Jeeves. New York: Simon & Schuster.
  7. ^ Wodehouse, P.G. (1955). Bertie Wooster Sees it Through. New York: Simon & Schuster.
  8. ^ Wodehouse, P.G. (1956). The Butler Did It. New York: Simon & Schuster.
  9. ^ Beim, Jerrold (1956). Too Many Sisters. New York: William Morrow & Company.
  10. ^ Beim, Jerrold (1957). The First Book of Boys Cooking. New York: F. Watts.
  11. ^ Wodehouse, P.G. (1971). Jeeves and the Tie That Binds. New York: Simon & Schuster.