Works by Nancy Dyer (1903-1979)

25-Jul-2010

The work of Providence artist Nancy Dyer is characterized by quiet humor and keen insight. She created dozens of small watercolor and pastel caricatures and sculptures of people in everyday situations, capturing their unstudied movements and poses with uncommon skill and humor.

Born in Riverside, Rhode Island, she was the daughter of Hezekiah Anthony Dyer, long-time president of the Providence Art Club and well-known watercolorist. She studied at the Lincoln School and spent most of her life in Providence, but traveled regularly with her parents to Europe, where her father went to paint each summer. (In his history of the Art Club, Angell’s Lane: The History of a Little Street in Providence, George Miner writes: “Almost every year he [H. A. Dyer] drove his Cadillac aboard the Rex, the Comte Savoie, or some other transatlantic ship, with Mrs. Dyer and Nancy and his color boxes. And five or six months later they would return to Providence (always on the Holland-America line) with portfolios of water colors...”)

While Hezekiah Dyer produced lush landscapes or meditative scenes of old buildings, Nancy Dyer was intrigued by people. She found her favorite subjects on the streets of France and Italy: bustling waiters and bar patrons, children with pets, old women gossiping, gypsies, hobos, and odd characters and outsiders. Less commonly, she made small clay and ceramic sculptures she referred to as “Little People.” Despite the diminutive size of these figurines, they appear to have been suddenly plucked from life, momentarily frozen, and ready to spring back into life. Fewer of these sculptures have survived, but fortunately, her pastel and watercolor renditions of characters from the early decades of the 20th century through the 1940s are still periodically available.

During World War II, Ms. Dyer took an active role in the Red Cross. In 1945 she was named Chairman of Recruitment for the Red Cross’ Providence chapter, and the following year she was named First Lady of the Year in Providence by Beta Sigma Phi. Perhaps because of these pursuits, or perhaps overshadowed by her more famous father, little is known about Nancy Dyer’s career as an artist. An obituary notice from August 1979 mentions that she exhibited in Boston and New York as well as at the Providence Art Club. She participated in an Annual National Exhibition sponsored by the Junior League of America, winning first prize for her pastel portrait of an Italian peasant.

Works by Nancy Dyer do not usually appear in the retail market or at auction, and they are rarely, if ever, exhibited. Her small works on paper are priced at levels that make them attractive to new buyers and collectors of Rhode Island art, while her quick, sure style and ability to telegraph a story with a simple composition attest to the popularity and development of illustration art in the 20th century. Following are selections of her work from the gallery collection. For information about pricing and availability, please contact the gallery.