photograph courtesy Dixon gallery and gardens
Editor’s Note: A city is to be shared. Roughly a million people live in what we might call “Greater Memphis,” a hub that stretches east to Germantown and Collierville, and even across state borders (and a mighty river) if we include West Memphis and Southaven. But here’s the charm of a city as distinctive as Memphis, Tennessee: It’s a different home for every one of us. There are residents of Midtown who feel like they need to pack a suitcase if they travel east of Highland. Likewise, some East Memphians schedule trips Downtown like a special event. What makes Memphis home for you? If you had to identify one place or thing that makes the Bluff City singular, what would it be?
We asked eight writers to define “My Memphis” in a single essay. While it’s impossible to answer such a challenge on a single page, it’s a start. And we hope it reminds you of a place (or thing) that makes this amazing city your home too. Feel free to share your version of “My Memphis” with us.
On my apartment wall hangs a painting of a woman in a suit with a top hat and a monocle. She’s quite sophisticated — I stare at her from time to time when I need to share one of those looks that only two women know how to share. She’s always in view.
I painted this woman of mine. Well, I might’ve forged her.
I first saw her on display at The Dixon Gallery and Gardens as part of their “Sweet 16” exhibit in 2022. Something about the original lithograph caught my eye, so I took a picture with my phone and painted my own little version, with a few of my own touches, so it’s not a complete counterfeit. (In researching this article, I’ve learned that the original, by Swedish artist Einar Nerman actually features a man, specifically The Man Who Does Whatever Comes to His Mind, but it’s my house so I’ll have The Woman Who Does Whatever Comes to Her Mind.)
But the art on my walls will never compare to the Dixon’s collection — some 2,000 objects, including French and American Impressionist paintings and significant holdings of German and English porcelain. I’ve gotten up close (but not too close) to oil paintings by Monet and Degas. In addition to displaying these works on a rotating basis, the museum presents eight to 10 exhibitions every year, usually three at a time — one a survey of some kind in the Main Galleries, one a show of a local contemporary artist’s work in the Mallory and Wurtzburger Galleries, and one an interactive gallery, which isn’t just for the kids.
Each time I visit, I take those little cards with art they distribute to accompany the exhibits. I hang them around my room in a sort of poor woman’s gallery wall for those days when I just need to see a little bit of art and can’t get away.
On display now until September 29th are “Southern/Modern: 1913–1955,” which celebrates art in the American South from the first half of the twentieth century; “2023 Wilson Fellowship,” which features work produced by the museum’s recent collaboration with Wilson, Arkansas; and “On Paper,” an interactive exhibition that highlights paper as a medium.
With such a variety, it’s easy to lose track of time as you move room to room in what once was the private estate of Margaret Oates Dixon and Hugo Norton Dixon, who lived there for some 35 years, during which they accrued quite the collection of French Impressionist paintings. By the time of their deaths in 1974, they bequeathed their home, art, and gardens to the city of Memphis. And in 1976, the Dixon opened as a museum, and Memphis has been grateful ever since.
Today, the museum stands on a 17-acre campus, which includes the highly regarded public garden, full of formal spaces, woodland tracts, and cutting gardens, equally as beautiful as the art in the galleries and worth as much of your time. Best of all, admission to the Dixon is free, staying true to Margaret and Hugo Dixon’s legacy of sharing art and culture with Memphians.
Each time I visit, I take those little cards with art they distribute to accompany the exhibits. I hang them around my room in a sort of poor woman’s gallery wall for those days when I just need to see a little bit of art and can’t get away. But they’re always a reminder to go back, and I will, and so should you.
