Smaller Works
Examples of very small premier coup paintings exist from Dickinson's student days, both in Chase's still life class, such as The Book, 1911, 9 × 23 inches, and from his study with Hawthorne, such as O'Neil's Wharf, 1913, 12 × 16 inches. But the average size of his paintings increased in the 1920s and '30s—even the premier coups, which represent a much smaller part of his output in the 1920s and early 1930s—to somewhere between 20 × 25 inches to 30 × 35 inches (excluding his large studio paintings). Landscapes of this size, often premier coups, increased in the 1930s, with the greatest production occurring in France in 1937-38, when he was not working on a large painting.
The style of his works varies in relation to size and date, with the smallest or the earliest done du premier coup more to train his eye and to learn to paint without preconception, as Hawthorne advised, or to get down information to use in a larger work; the somewhat larger ones he tended to work on longer and bring to a higher state of resolution. But this generalization is breached, for example, in the carefully composed Bulkhead Brace, 1913, 12 × 16 inches, which, despite both an early date and small size (most often associated, as in that work, with heavy impasto applied with a palette knife), appears fully resolved. An exception on the other end of the size range is Toward Mrs. Driscoll's, 1928, 50 × 40 inches, which is a premier coup. The impastoed paintings of 1913–1914, such as House, Mozart Avenue, 1913, and Self-Portrait, 1914, with occasional notes of fully saturated hues, are indebted to Hawthorne's teaching, but impasto, bright notes of color, and the sense of urgency in execution is still evident in paintings such as View from 46 Pearl Street, 1923, and Back of Harry Campbell's Studio, 1924. Dickinson continued the use of a palette knife, even in the large paintings, but gradually made greater use of brushes, thinner paint. In 1938 he wrote from France that many of the paintings he did then were painted "with the hand only." This practice continued in his later paintings. Denver Lindley, a student of Dickinson in the mid-1950s, said "His favorite tool was the little finger of his right hand. His smock was covered with paint on the right side because he wiped his finger on it."
Dickinson painted some more fully finished, somewhat larger landscapes in the later 1920s, such as Cliffs Longnook, 1927, and Parker's Cliffs, 1929, the former a gift to his sister Antoinette (Tibi), and the latter to his father and his second wife, Louise (Luty). But toward the middle of the 1930s a blurring of edges, softening of forms, and often greater luminosity can be observed throughout his work, including his drawings. This change occurs in works that are done quickly and with great urgency, which increase in number, including landscapes and marine pieces such as Rocks and Water, La Cride, 1938, and some of his portraits, such as Evangeline, 1942. But it may also be observed in drawings such as South Wellfleet Inn, and Roses, both 1939, and in his larger studio paintings, where blurred areas are combined with more resolved details, as in the 40 × 50 inch Stranded Brig, 1934, and the large Composition with Still Life, 1933–37.
Over time, Dickinson's small paintings and drawings tended to converge in style. Premier coup paintings evolve from early works with forms constructed in thick impasto to later ones with a generally thinner use of paint and hazier forms, but he continued the practice of building forms in paint patches rather than first drawing contours. By contrast, Dickinson's early drawings rely on firm contours and subtly nuanced shading to define clearly articulated forms, a style that gains greater economy and power from his study in Paris, as seen in (Nude (Standing Nude, Hips and Legs)), 1920, and the splendid Esther Hill Sawyer, 1931, and then softens in the drawings of the 1930s (Nude #3, 1936). The drawings and premier coup paintings of this period, apparently so different from his large, time-consuming studio paintings, often share with them the quality of the Freudian uncanny that Iverson found in Edward Hopper's work, a quality to which the hazy luminosity contributes. Examples are the premier coups Villa in the Woods, 1938, White Boat, 1941, and the drawing Nude No. 5, Shoulder, 1936, and from 1950, Rock, Cape Poge.
Dickinson's paintings of the 1940s are on average substantially smaller than in any period since his student days, and even in the 1950s most are no large than 23 × 20 inches. This was done partly with the idea that they could be sold more cheaply (and thus more often) and were easier to carry in the field, partly because he was giving much of his time to painting Ruin at Daphne and teaching, and in the 1950s because he was limited by health problems. In some of his later work, in particular Ruin at Daphne, South Wellfleet Inn, the 12 × 14½ inch Carousel Bridge, Paris, 1952, and his Self-Portrait of 1949, Dickinson showed a greater interest in perspective construction and careful execution. But he still painted pictures du premier coup, including Through Two Cottage Windows, 1948, and his painting perhaps most difficult to perceive as anything but abstract shapes, Quarry, Riverdale, 1953.
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