When You Think You’ve Failed as an Artist: The Story of Stirling Dickinson and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

For almost everyone who visits the town voted the #1 city in the world by Travel + Leisure, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico is a magical experience of sunlight glazed days, jewel colored casas, soaring hillsides doted with birds and cacti and hidden doorways around every turn. Like me and many of my new neighbors, those of us who have transplanted ourselves here in search of quiet, healing, artistic inspiration and connection with the Mexican way of life and the people who make SMA, as some like to refer to San Miguel, their home.

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico…my new home! Thanks to Stirling Dickinson!

Artists from all over the world come to San Miguel because of its reputation as an artistic haven. But you might be surprised to discover that the person who was instrumental in attracting artists to this growing artists mecca was himself told he had no talent as an artist and failed in his first attempt to create an art school in San Miguel.

The story of William Stirling Dickinson, is one of triumph despite naysayers and failures to create a legacy that has artists and the San Miguel de Allende community, both indigenous Mexicans and foreigners, thrive for generations.

Stirling Dickinson was born in Chicago and dreamt of becoming an artist. However, after studying at Princeton, Art Institute of Chicago and Écoles d'Art Américaines in France, Dickinson struggled with doubts about his artistic talents and was told he would never make it as an artist. In 1934, Dickinson decided to travel with a friend through Mexico and illustreated the pages of the book of their adventures which sold well enough and he continued to travel Latin America and write and draw.

Dickinson first came to San Miguel after meeting the famed Mexican opera singer and tenor Jose Mojica in Oaxaca. Even though the area suffered economically from the ups and downs of the local textile industry, Dickinson fell in love with San Miguel upon visiting Mojica's home, a restored casa that was bought cheaply and which had housed Hollywood stars such as Gary Cooper and artists such as exiled Peruvian painter and left wing activist Felipe Cossio del Pomar. Mojica, Cossio and Dickinson founded the Amigos de San Miguel society in 1938 which sought to enhance the economic condition for the struggling area and its people through tourism and eventually he was appointed the director of the Escuela Universitaria de Bellas Artes. Dickinson traveled extensively try to attract new students including foreigners and well to do Mexicans but he made a point to reserve space for local Mexican students and offered classes in textile weaving and pottery to hold on to and promote rich local cultural traditions.

In 1942, Dickinson was drafted into service by the US to serve in World War II. He worked in Washington DC and Italy for Naval Intelligence and the Office of Strategic Services. As the war ended in 1945, the G.I. Bill gave returning veterans the opportunity to study anywhere in the world and many of them chose San Miguel. Dickinson returned to SMA to once again promote the school to American veterans with G.I. benefits. The famed muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros was hired as an instructor at the Escuela Universitaria but a financial dispute with the school's owner Alfredo Campanella caused students to protest and leave and the school closed in 1949.

Dickinson attempted to open his own art school but without the accredidation needed from the U.S. Embassy, he had difficulty enrolling foreign students who could pay the tuition.

In 1950, Dickinson and 5 other Americans and Canadians were deported from Mexico under mysterious circumstances (it is believed an aggreived Campanella may have bribed officials to deport them as pay back for the school closing). Dickinson was accused in numerous American publications including the New York Herald Tribune and Time Magazine for being a Communist sympathizer and harboring and supporting political radicals among the artist community in San Miguel although there was little real evidence to support this. Dickinson's father's law firm intervened and threatend to sue the publications which resulted in the attacks subsiding.

Dickinson finally returned to San Miguel de Allende in the late 1950s and became the Director of the Instituto Allende Escuela de Arte y Español (https://www.instituto-allende.edu.mx) until his retirement in 1983, attracting veterans, expat, local and international students for art and language instruction and he has been cited as being instrumental with creating the growing artist community in San Miguel.

Throughout his long life in San Miguel, Dickinson endeavored to connect foreign visitors and residents of San Miguel with the local people and culture and to foster respect for Mexican artists, practices, customs and techniques. Dickinson invested in local initiatives including supporting the local baseball team, local artisans and was also an avid orchidist and is known for a breed of orchid, the Cypripedium dickinsonianum. Dickinson died in 1998 in the city he loved.

Cypripedium dickinsonianum named after Stirling Dickinson.

In the end, Dickinson’s story reveals that an aspiring artist may have much more to contribute than just the art that they produce. They might be the cheerleader and promoter for the bridging of cultures, for a new way of life and for a haven for artists from near and far looking to live in the best city in the world. Not a bad legacy for someone who was told they would never make it as an artist.