The Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco

In 1930, Dixon designed several studies for the Golden Gate Bridge, which even with San Francisco’s mounting financial strife, helped pass a $35 million bond initiative. There was strong opposition to the project, as it was considered by some to possibly destroy the natural beauty of the bay and the city of Sausalito. 

The Golden Gate Bridge public relations counsel, Charles Duncan—who was married to the artist’s sister, Constance, and who answered to Joseph Strauss, the chief engineer for the bridge— asked Dixon to recommend an architect. Dixon’s answer—Irving Foster Morrow, a little-known architect at the time. Ten drawings of the Golden Gate Bridge by Dixon show preliminary renderings of the bridge.