Frank Dobson

[1886-1963]

Sculptor and painter

From 1902 until the age of eighteen Dobson worked as an apprentice in the studio of Sir William Reynolds-Stephens, and in 1906 was awarded a scholarship to Hospitalfield Art Institute, Arbroath, where he remained until 1910. Eventually he settled in Cornwall, where a visit from Augustus John led to his first one-man exhibition, at the Chenil Gallery in 1914. He enlisted in the Artists Rifles, seeing action in France, and was invalided out two days before the armistice. Dobson became a member of the short-lived X Group, which exhibited in 1920, joined the London Group in 1922, serving as its president for four years from 1923, and subsequently built up a European reputation as one of the leading English sculptors. Dobson and Lawrence met in 1921 at the Chelsea Studio, where Lawrence was a frequent visitor, and the pencil portrait of Joyce is his work.

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