Frank Dobson

Frank Dobson (1888 - 1963)

Dobson was the son of an illustrator, who taught him the first rudiments of painting. He joined the Leyton Technical School at the age of 11. Following the death of his father when he was 14 years old, Dobson went to live with an aunt in Hastings where he attended the Hastings School of Art. At the age of 18 he went to work in the studio of Sir William Reynolds and from 1910 to 1912 he attended the City and Guilds Art School at Kennington. He was initially a painter and only started to sculpt in wood in 1913. In 1914 he gave his first exhibition of paintings and sculptures. He served in the army during World War I, but was invalided back to England from France in January 1917. He submitted some of his work to the War Artists Advisory Committee and during World War II he received several official commissions for busts.

In 1920 he met Wyndham Lewis who, with Ezra Pound, promoted the Vorticist movement, and exhibited with the artists of Group X. From 1921 onwards he only produced sculptures. In 1922 he became a member of the London Group, of which he was president from 1923 to 1927. In 1932 he was invited to the Venice Biennale. In 1942 he was made a member of the Royal Academy. He taught sculpture at the Royal College of Art from 1946 to 1953. In 1951 he made the sculpture London Pride for the Festival of Britain, which now stands outside of the National Theatre on the South Bank, London. His sculptures are very stylised works in which the influence of Maillol may be detected.

Text source: Benezit Dictionary of Artists