Hornbills

A sculptor, draughtsman and painter in oil and watercolour. Born in London, Dobson first studied at Leyton School of Art and later at the City and Guilds School, Kennington. During World War I he enlisted in the Artists’ Rifles and continued working - his large oil The Balloon Apron was acquired by the Imperial War Museum. After the war Dobson met Wyndham Lewis and exhibited with Group X in 1920 and he held his first one-man show as a sculptor at the Leicester Galleries in 1921. During the interwar Dobson consolidated his reputation as a sculptor and together with Epstein was call “a keeper of tradition” ”“ bridging classical and modern sculpture. In 1946 Dobson was appointed professor of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art. Although best known as a sculptor he was also an accomplished and fluent draughtsman. The present work is one of a number of vivid drawings of birds and animals that he studied at London Zoo during 1946/7. Some of these drawings were shown at the Royal Academy in those years. He is represented in many public galleries including the Tate Gallery.