Allegory of the Dakota 38

Artwork by Keith Dixon

This exhibition is an allegorical work of 39 paintings by Keith Dixon, a Minnesota artist who paints in an “old master” style of realism.  38 of the paintings are individual images of warriors symbolizing those executed in Mankato, Minnesota in 1962 – the largest mass execution in American history. The 39th painting is a formal portrait of their chief. The exhibition serves as a memorial to the tragic events that befell the native Dakota people in the mid-19th century, and an affirmation of the warriors’ humanity and the chief’s nobility and courage in the face of disaster.

This exhibition makes its debut at the historic, Hallberg Center for the Arts in Wyoming, MN with a Grand Opening on August 24, of 2023.  This limited engagement will run through September 16, 2023.  All are invited to view this tribute to these men through the exceptional interpretation by the hands and dedication of Keith Dixon.  

From Keith Dixon...

As a realist painter working in an Old Master tradition, my purpose is not to represent nature, but to reveal it. These paintings, taken as a whole, evoke the pathos of our native Dakota in the mid-19th century. This collection of allegorical warriors, linked closely side-by-side with their chief, evoke the memory, humanity, and dignity of those executed in Mankato on December 26, 1862 in the largest mass execution in American history. My focus is on the human face - the universal in which we might glimpse ourselves. What is revealed here are the wages of injustice. That is my aim.

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