Elephant of Mysore

Otis Marion Dozier is noted as a member of a group of Texas regionalist artists known as the "Dallas Nine". His style was characterized by brilliant colors and strong forms, often focusing on the plight of farmers affected by the Great Depression.

Dozier was born in Forney, Texas in 1904. Raised on a farm in Mesquite, Texas with three siblings, his surroundings provided the materials that allowed him to cultivate a love for nature and wildlife. He once said, "youve got to start from where you are and hope to get to the universal." His surroundings became a primary focus for subject matter in his art. Other areas providing inspiration for his works would include the Big Bend and Gulf Coast areas of Texas, the Four Corners area of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, and the bayous and swamps of Louisiana. His earliest art training was in Dallas from Vivian Aunspaugh, Cora Edge, and Frank Reaugh when his family moved there in the early 1920s.

Dozier became a member of the Dallas Artists League in the 1930s after becoming involved with a group of regionalist artists. He taught at the Dallas School of Creative Arts from 1936 to 1938, while at the same time studying the various works of European artists such as Picasso, Leger, and Matisse. His initial style included bright colors and dominant forms but later moved to the earthy tones of beige, green, brown, and gray. In 1940, Dozier married and together he and his wife contributed much to the Dallas cultural scene.

Dozier attended the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center in 1938 on a scholarship, studying with Boardman Robinson. For the next seven years he served as Boardmans assistant. While in Colorado, the Rocky Mountains became a favorite painting ground where he completed more than 3000 sketches of ghost towns and mountains. Influenced by Robinson, he developed a more fluid style and became an expert in the lithographic medium. Upon returning to Dallas, Dozier taught life drawing at Southern Methodist University from 1945 to 1948. From 1948 until 1970 he taught drawing and painting at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. He participated in sole exhibitions in the early to mid 1940s, as well as other major exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Dozier completed murals at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (Texas A&M University) and at various post offices in Texas. He won many awards at various exhibitions, including the International Watercolor Exhibition in San Francisco in 1932; the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1933; the First National Exhibition in New York in 1936; Allied Arts exhibitions in 1932, 1935, and 1947; and two Texas General exhibitions in 1946 and 1947. His works may be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston; the Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery at the University of Texas at Austin; the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; the Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum in San Antonio; the Dallas Museum of Art; and the Panhandle-Plains Museum in Canyon, among others.

Dozier died of heart failure in 1987.