Leon Dabo - Later Life

Later Life

After the war, his artistic output decreased. He began to feel that American men had become too materialistic, but women, he felt, were of a more spiritual nature, and could "save" art from indifference. As a result, he became a popular lecturer, often speaking to as many as fifteen women's clubs a month on art all around the country.

In the 1920s, he taught and painted in various artists' colonies in the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut. Starting in 1933, he began to exhibit flower paintings and pastels, a departure from the landscapes with which he had become associated. They were well received, with The New York Times saying the works were "a distinct contribution to be associated with the flower harmonies of Odilon Redon and of Fantin-Latour."

In 1937, he returned to France and established a studio there, where he painted French landscapes. With war approaching, Dabo helped artists such as Walter Sickert and Fernand Léger transport their works out of the country to avoid their being confiscated. He escaped the German occupation of France in late 1940, through Portugal. After the war, he returned to France in 1948 and painted more landscapes, most notably of Montagne Sainte-Victoire. These paintings were highly received and he was invited to exhibit them at the "Painters of Mont Ste. Victoire: Tribute to Cézanne" show in 1951. That year, he returned the United States for the last time.

Dabo died in Manhattan in 1960 at the age of 96. He is buried in Long Island National Cemetery.