Leon Dabo was a major American Tonalist painter whose atmospheric works were closely associated with his mentor James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Dabo was one of the exhibitors in the 1910 Exhibition of Independent Artists organized by Robert Henri, John Sloan, Walt Kuhn, and Arthur B. Davies, and joined them and other artists in the circle of The Eight as one of the principal organizers of the famed 1913 Armory Show.
Dabo was born in France to Ignace Schott and Madelaine Oberlé who settled their family in Detroit, Michigan to escape the Franco-Prussian War. He first studied art under his father, who had been a professor of aesthetics in France. The family adopted the name of Scott, though Leon would later assume the surname of “Dabo,” after the village of New Dabo in France. In 1883, after the death of Ignace, the family moved to New York City where Dabo worked as an architectural designer. While in New York he became a student of John La Farge. Through La Farge’s introduction to de Chavannes, Dabo was able to study in Paris at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, the Académie Colarossi, and the École des Beaux-Arts. He also studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich and for three years in Italy. He moved to London around 1886, where he became an acquaintance of Whistler. Dabo returned to New York in 1890. While in New York he saw Charles Freer’s Whistler Collection, which was to profoundly influence his career. In 1910 he participated in the “Independents” exhibit organized by The Eight and was a principal organizer of the 1913 Armory Show. In 1944, he was elected a full Academician of the National Academy of Design.
Read More
Back in New York, Dabo was soon exhibiting internationally to great critical acclaim and immersed himself in the changing art scene, becoming a member of numerous artist associations in both Europe and the United States. He returned to Europe during World War I where his linguistic skills enabled him to aid the French and British armies in counter intelligence and espionage, earning him the French Chevalier Legion of Honor Award. After the war, he traveled and lectured at art colonies and women’s clubs around the U.S. and began to paint floral subjects. After brief returns to France before and after World War II, he settled in Manhattan, where he died in 1960.
Dabo is best remembered as a Tonalist, indeed being referred to as “the Poet of Color” during his career. Having studied under Whistler, Dabo was greatly interested in the decorative qualities of Whistler’s work and of Japanese art, as well as the sense of quiet poetry and harmony he achieved through his subtle use of color, value, and shape. Nassau Beach appears as if in a fog, filled with warm grays and hints of blue. Forms are hazy and indistinct, lending an air of mystery to the scene and emphasizing a sense of the ethereal.