Archive of the Mendocino Heritage Artists
Dorr Bothwell
Dorr Bothwell’s African Sketchbook
NIGERIA
TUNISIA
Introduction to Dorr Bothwell’s African Sketchbook:
Dorr, a wonderful vital and inspired friend for many years – we met in North Beach San Francisco in 1955 – has recently left us. Her life spanned nearly a century from May 3, 1902 to September 17, 2000. She lived with great intensity, sharing herself generously with others, and leaving behind an impressivebody of work, which places her among America’s outstanding women artists of the 20th cent.
Her paintings are shown in major museums and many private collections throughout the United States and Europe.
Dorr returned to her native California Coast in the spring of 1999, after living for several years in the desert of Arizona. On one of my recent trips to the desert she showed methe sketches here reproduced, which she made during her several months stay in Nigeria and the subsequent trip crossing the Sahara to Tunisia in the fall and winter of 1966-67.
We had fotocopies made to be later published in a small edition. I promised to help her with that.
While certainly minor works, to me these sketches show all the immediacy and freshness, keen observation and lively and loving interest that Dorr brought to everything that caught her attention. They are strong and sensitive at the same time.
I regret that she herself will not see it, but I hope that this little homage to her creative spirit will be a welcome memento for her many friends and students and art lovers in general.
Monica Hannasch, Scario, Italy (10-20-2000)
© 2021 The Mendocino Art Center
Contact for permission to reproduce images by Dorr Bothwell: The Mendocino Art Center, POB 765, Mendocino, CA 95460
LINKS
Dorr Bothwell: Artwork
Dorr Bothwell: Chronology, Exhibits, Publications
Dorr Bothwell: Straws in the Wind
Dorr Bothwell: acrylic transfer and laserprint
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