Born in 1912 near Fort Defiance, Arizona, Adee Dodge was the grandson of Henry Chee Dodge, the first Chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council. Dodge claimed that he flew P-38 Lightnings in the Pacific theatre during World War II, and that he began sketching while recovering from his war wounds. He was shot down on three different occasions and spent time in a Japanese prison camp. However Dodge's official service records indicate that, while Dodge was actually a Captain in the U.S. Army Air Corp, he spent the entire war stateside as a Warrant Officer. Which account is accurate and what would be the reason for the differing versions?

Compared to most fellow tribal members of his era, Dodge was a highly educated man. In 1930 Dodge graduated from high school in Chilocco, Oklahoma and enlisted in the Oklahoma National Guard while he attended Bacone Junior College.   After graduating from Bacone he went to the University of New Mexico where he acquired a Bachelors Degree in cultural anthropology. He later attended graduate school at Columbia University from 1935 to 1937 but did not finish. While at Columbia he specialized in comparative linguistics, and worked extensively with Navajo culture and customs scholar Gladys Amanda Reichard on the Navajo Chants.

Three weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dodge enlisted in the Army Air Force where records indicate he initially served as a “Radio and Teletype” Operator for “Flight Duty”.  Nanabah Dodge-Grogan believes her father was instrumental in the writing of the Navajo Code Talkers codebook for the United States Army Air Force.  Although not as well known as the Marine Navajo code talkers, who have subsequently received most of the publicity and acclaim, the Army Air Force also employed a team of twenty-four Navajos to handle telephone communications, using voice codes in their native tongue, between the Air Commander in the Solomon Islands and various airfields in the region.  Although both codes were based in the Navajo language they were different.

Nanabah Dodge-Grogan says portions of her father's service records remained classified until very recently.  Although supposedly now open and available, due to a series of bureaucratic snafus she has not been successful in obtaining the recently released records, but her theory is very plausible. According to the Navajo Code Talkers Association, the “Navajo's unwritten language was understood by fewer than 30 non-Navajo's at the time of WWII.  The size and complexity of the language made the code extremely difficult to comprehend, much less decipher.”  That a Navajo, Ivy League educated linguistics specialist would provide a significant contribution in the writing of the code book makes perfect sense and, if it can be substantiated, would most likely be a major reason why portions of his records remain sealed for so many years after the end of the war.

Although seperating the fact from the fiction with Dodge's life is at times difficult, there is no doubt he has become one of the most important painters in Navajo tribal history.  Dodge returned from World War II determined to leave a legacy of beauty to the world. Primarily self-taught, he received a solid education in the fundamentals from his second wife Maria Delubis.  Delubis was a Illinois native of Polish descent who had attended the Art Institute of Chicago.  She was instrumental in helping Dodge develop his skills as a colorist.

Dodge’s work first began appearing in Arizona in the mid-1950's. Over the next two decades he became a frequent visitor to various businesses in down town Phoenix and Tucson. He would often sell work out of the trunk of his car and became friends with many of his repeat customers. Most referred to him affectionately as "Chief Dodge". Dodge would typically buy 32" by 40" pieces of mat board and use the 2" on the perimeter for "testing colors". He would then cut up the remainder of the board in various smaller sizes for his paintings. Unfortunately, his artistic career was cut short when he was forced to quit painting in the late 1970's because of failing eyesight and diabetes.

Dodge was a resident of Window Rock, Arizona and then Albuquerque, New Mexico for most of his later life. His work depicts Navajo beliefs via the figures. He was one of the few Navajo artists versed in the sacred tribal chants that have been passed through the Navajo's generations. Many of his paintings have chants associated with the imagery written on the back in his handwriting or typed on index cards.

Every image in most of Dodge's paintings is symbolic. In many of his paintings one or two birds were were shown. The square shouldered bird, a bluebird, was often drawn with a swallow, designated by the swept back wings. In ancient Navajo history, the two birds symbolized the the eastern, or seagoing people and the western, or swallow people.

His work has appeared in Arizona Highways, including the cover of the July 1958 issue(shown at right). His paintings were also featured in the collections of Valley National Bank(Walter Bimson), the Smithsonian Institute, and in mural form at the Administration Building for Arizona State University. Adee Dodge died in 1992 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

One of the Blue Coyote Gallery's primary objectives is to acquire biographical information about historically important Arizona artists.  Background and biographical information about many of the deceased artists we represent is often very sketchy and limited at best. We are trying to acquire information before people who knew these artists personally are no longer around.  

If you knew Adee Dodge personally, or knew someone who did, we would be grateful if you could share any biographical information,  stories, or anecdotes you may have.  

Information can be sent via email or postal mail.  We would also be glad to arrange interviews either via telephone or in person.  

Please contact Gary Fillmore at gary@bluecoyotegallery.com

or 480-488-2334