MILDRED WOOD DIXON (SHERWOOD) (1914-2018) Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Mildred Dixon was raised in Houston, and was in the legendary inaugural class at Kinkaid School. Mildred attended Halmorole Preparatory School in Connecticut and went on to Sophie Newcombe College in New Orleans, where her art studies sparked a passion that was to last for the rest of her life. She studied with Xavier Gonzalez at Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans and with Carlos Merida in Mexico. In her thirties she began painting full time and studied in Taxco in Mexico, Positano in Italy, and the art school of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, later working with Jimmy Ernst, the son of Max Ernst. Over a long career her work was shown at museums and galleries all over Texas, in London and at the Knoedler Gallery in New York, as well as being included in the permanent collection of the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. In her own highly original style, she painted vivid images in oils of early Houston, from the (then) virgin woodlands of Memorial Drive to the Fifth Ward; later, while living in Guatemala and Mexico, she captured the color and mystery of traditional religious ceremonies, as well as scenes from her own magically-populated imagination. In the 1950's, Mildred was one of the founding members of the C.G. Jung Centre in Houston. She was a gifted painter and a lifelong beauty, much admired in her native Houston for her natural ability to be very charming, very funny, sometimes outrageously outspoken, and to get exactly what she wanted. Selected Biographical and Career Highlights1914 Born in Fort Worth, Texas1932-35 Sophie Newcomb College, New Orleans, Louisiana2018 Died in Savannah, Georgia Selected Prizes, AwardsHouston Annual: Cash Prize 1953, 1955 (December), 1959, 1960; Honorable Mention Purchase Prize 1953; Honorable Mention 19511951 Honorable Mention, Dilemma, oil1953 Cash Prize, Chichicastenago, oil and Honorable Mention Purchase Prize, Sunday Afternoon, oil1955 (December) Cash Prize, Holy Week, oil1959 Cash Prize, Conflict, oil1960 Cash Prize, Water, oilTexas Annual: Cash Prize 1950; Recommended for Purchase Prize 1950, 19511950 Cash Prize and Recommended for Purchase Prize, Animal Fair, mixed media1951 Recommended for Purchase Prize, Utopia, oil Texas Fine Arts Association: Prize 1954 Selected Exhibitions1937 13th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas1949 11th Annual Texas Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture 1949-1950, circulated: Witte Museum, San Antonio; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas1950 Bute Art Gallery, Houston, Texas1950 25th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas1950 12th Annual Exhibition of Texas Painting and Sculpture, 1950-1951, circulated: Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Witte Museum, San Antonio; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (cash prize and recommended for purchase prize)1951 26th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (honorable mention)1952 Texas Contemporary Artists, M. Knoedler & Company, New York, New York; Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, Texas (catalogue)1952 Solo, Latin American Paintings by Mildred Dixon, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas1952 27th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas1953 Houston Post Exhibition, Houston, Texas1953 28th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (2 entries: cash prize and honorable mention)1954 29th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas1954 Texas Fine Arts Association, Austin, Texas (prize)1955 Two Texas Artists (Kelly Fearing and Mildred Wood Dixon), Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas1955 30th Annual Exhibition of Works by Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas1955 31st Annual Exhibition of Houston Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (cash prize)1955–56 D. D. Feldman Collection of Contemporary Texas Art: An Exhibit of 100 Paintings, traveled; 1956 Feb at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (Mexican Afternoon) catalogue1956–57 D. D. Feldman Collection of Contemporary Texas Art: 1956 Invitational Exhibition, traveled; 1956 Dec–1957 Jan at McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, Texas (Storm Center) checklist1959 D. D. Feldman Competitive Award Exhibit: The Contemporary Work of 82 Texas Artists, traveled (Joy) checklist1956, 1964 Contemporary Arts Association, Houston, Texas1957-58 32-33rd Annual Houston Artists Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas1959 34th Annual Houston Artists Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (cash prize)1960 Tri-State Fair, Amarillo, Texas1960 35th Annual Houston Artists Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas (cash prize)1962 McRoberts & Tunnard Gallery, London1964 Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico2006 Houston Art in Houston Collections: Works from 1900 to 1965, Heritage Society Museum, Houston, Texas2006–07 Of This Vast State: Women Artists of Texas, 1900–1960, Women’s Museum, Dallas, Texas2013 Rhythms of Modernism, William Reaves Fine Art, Houston, Texas2015 Bayou City Chic: Progressive Streams of Modern Art in Houston, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas (catalogue)2016 This WAS Contemporary Art: Fine and Decorative Arts in Houston 1945-1965, Heritage Society Museum, Houston, Texas (catalogue) Selected SourcesPowers, John and Deborah Powers. Texas Painters, Sculptors, and Graphic Artists: A Biographical Dictionary of Artists in Texas before 1942. Austin: Woodmont, 2000.Reynolds, Sarah C. Houston Reflections: Art in the City, 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Houston: Rice University Press, 2008. http://cnx.org/content/col10526/latest. Dallas Museum of Art. Portal to Texas History: http://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/partners/DMA/browse.Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Exhibition history online: http://prv.mfah.org/archives/search.asp?par1=1&par2=1&par3=1&par4=1&par5=1&par6=1&par7.