Author: Sharon Bluhm Hardcover Book

Inventions of the Mind tells the story of Manierre Dawson (1887-1969), the first in America to move deliberately from representational painting that sought to copy nature and towards complete abstraction in its own right. In both his native city of Chicago and as a fruit-farmer in northern Michigan, Dawson produced bold, radical abstracts that challenged his viewers' preconceived ideas of art in the early twentieth century. Follow the genius of Dawson's life and work through the words of his father, memories of family and friends, letters, newspaper accounts, and the insightful words of the artist himself as he invents, dreams, and struggles to keep his art alive.