Cowan Dobson
Encyclopedia
David Cowan Dobson referred to as 'Cowan' Dobson ARBA (1919), RBA (1922), was a leading Scottish
portrait artist who mainly worked in London. He was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1894, as son of the Scottish and rather unsuccessful genre and portrait painter Henry John DOBSON (1858-1928) who painted Labour leader James Keir Hardie
(1856 – 1915) in 1893 and of Jeannie Charlotte Hannah COWAN
His father, Henry John Dobson (1858-1928)10, was himself a Scottish genre and portrait
painter from Dalry. His grandfather, Thomas Dobson, was a wool merchant in the
village of Kirkcudbright. It is said in the family that there was a Dobson wool mill in
Dalry. Maybe this mill was owned and run by Thomas.
Henry John did not keep the family tradition of running the family wool business, in
order to become a painter. It would appear he paid a price for his choice. Family legend
has it that Thomas Dobson disowned his son. Henry John’s whole life would be marked
by financial difficulties.
The oldest child of the Dobson family was Thomas Stanley Dobson, born in 1892 and named after his grandfather. He was known as Stanley Dobson and became an actor. But, to make ends meet, Stanley also worked for art dealer Robertson in London.
David Cowan was the second child, known as 'Cowan' Dobson.
The only sister was Louisa Rankin Dobson. She was born in 1896 and was known as Louie. She had an intense family bond with her brothers, but mainly with her younger brother Henry Raeburn, for whom she cared her life long.
The fourth child was Henry Raeburn Dobson
(1901-1985). He was named after the famous eighteenth century
Scottish portrait painter, Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823), who his father admired hugely. Henry Raeburn Dobson
(1901-1985), became a leading society portrait painter in Edinburgh and Brussels (Belgium).
, Earl Beatty
and
Harold Wilson
, he mainly portrayed “fashionable London ladies”. Cowan was married to Phyllis Bowyer, who was the brain behind the painter's finincial success. She made sure Cowan became one of London's leading society portrait painters. She sat for the famous photographer Alexander Bassano
, the resulting portrait now being at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Cowan Dobson started his career in Scotland. In 1918 he was using his father’s studio at Dalry
. Around 1920 he moved to London and from then on he worked and resided mainly in London
. Occasionally, he would work in and around Glasgow
. He is said to have rented Kenmure Castle, in Cumbria
New Galloway
, in the 1930s and 1940s to entertain and paint fashionable sitters. But this cannot be documented.
He mainly worked in oils but also painted some fine watercolour scenes. He painted in the tradition of the academic ninenteenth century with mostly a rather darker colour scheme, while his brother Henry, influenced by the Modernist Movement in Edinburgh, painted more colourfull portraits.
He became an official War Painter and made portraits of many VC's .
His works were widely exhibited, including the Royal Academy
, Royal Society of Arts
, Royal Scottish Academy
, Royal Society of Watercolourers, Royal Society of Portrait Painters
, Royal Society of British Artists
, Royal Cambrian Academy
, Fine Art Society
, and the Walker Art Gallery
in Liverpool
.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
portrait artist who mainly worked in London. He was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1894, as son of the Scottish and rather unsuccessful genre and portrait painter Henry John DOBSON (1858-1928) who painted Labour leader James Keir Hardie
Keir Hardie
James Keir Hardie, Sr. , was a Scottish socialist and labour leader, and was the first Independent Labour Member of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
(1856 – 1915) in 1893 and of Jeannie Charlotte Hannah COWAN
Family
David Cowan Dobson was born as the second child into a not so well-to-do middle class family with roots in Kirkcudbright, Scotland. The name COWAN was given to David after his mother’s family name. He married Phyllis BOWYER, who became the commercial and financial brain behind the painter. They resided in London.His father, Henry John Dobson (1858-1928)10, was himself a Scottish genre and portrait
painter from Dalry. His grandfather, Thomas Dobson, was a wool merchant in the
village of Kirkcudbright. It is said in the family that there was a Dobson wool mill in
Dalry. Maybe this mill was owned and run by Thomas.
Henry John did not keep the family tradition of running the family wool business, in
order to become a painter. It would appear he paid a price for his choice. Family legend
has it that Thomas Dobson disowned his son. Henry John’s whole life would be marked
by financial difficulties.
The oldest child of the Dobson family was Thomas Stanley Dobson, born in 1892 and named after his grandfather. He was known as Stanley Dobson and became an actor. But, to make ends meet, Stanley also worked for art dealer Robertson in London.
David Cowan was the second child, known as 'Cowan' Dobson.
The only sister was Louisa Rankin Dobson. She was born in 1896 and was known as Louie. She had an intense family bond with her brothers, but mainly with her younger brother Henry Raeburn, for whom she cared her life long.
The fourth child was Henry Raeburn Dobson
Henry Raeburn Dobson
Henry Raeburn Dobson - also known as Raeburn Dobson - was a Scottish portrait and landscape painter from Edinburgh who was active in Edinburgh and Brussels from 1918/1920 until 1980. His father Henry John Dobson and his brother Cowan Dobson were genre and portrait painters...
(1901-1985). He was named after the famous eighteenth century
Scottish portrait painter, Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823), who his father admired hugely. Henry Raeburn Dobson
Henry Raeburn Dobson
Henry Raeburn Dobson - also known as Raeburn Dobson - was a Scottish portrait and landscape painter from Edinburgh who was active in Edinburgh and Brussels from 1918/1920 until 1980. His father Henry John Dobson and his brother Cowan Dobson were genre and portrait painters...
(1901-1985), became a leading society portrait painter in Edinburgh and Brussels (Belgium).
His Life and Work
Although he painted some very fine portraits of well known men, like Earl AttleeEarl Attlee
Earl Attlee is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 16 December 1955 for Clement Attlee, the former Labour Prime Minister. He was made Viscount Prestwood, of Walthamstow in the County of Essex, at the same time, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. As of 2010 the...
, Earl Beatty
Earl Beatty
Earl Beatty is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the prominent naval commander Admiral of the Fleet David Beatty. He was created Baron Beatty, of the North Sea and of Brooksby in the County of Leicester, and Viscount Borodale, of Wexford in the County of...
and
Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
, he mainly portrayed “fashionable London ladies”. Cowan was married to Phyllis Bowyer, who was the brain behind the painter's finincial success. She made sure Cowan became one of London's leading society portrait painters. She sat for the famous photographer Alexander Bassano
Alexander Bassano
Alexander Bassano was the leading high society portrait photographer in Victorian London.He was the second youngest child of Clemente Bassano, originally a fishmonger of Cranbourne Street, later an oilman and Italian warehouseman of Jermyn Street, London. He opened his first studio in 1850 in...
, the resulting portrait now being at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Cowan Dobson started his career in Scotland. In 1918 he was using his father’s studio at Dalry
St. John's Town of Dalry
St. John's Town of Dalry, usually referred to simply as Dalry, is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, formerly in Kirkcudbrightshire. It is located sixteen miles from Castle Douglas along the A713 road, and is at the southern terminus of the A702 road...
. Around 1920 he moved to London and from then on he worked and resided mainly in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Occasionally, he would work in and around Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. He is said to have rented Kenmure Castle, in Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
New Galloway
New Galloway
New Galloway is a town in Dumfries and Galloway Region, southwest Scotland. It lies on the west side of the valley of the Water of Ken, a mile north of the end of Loch Ken...
, in the 1930s and 1940s to entertain and paint fashionable sitters. But this cannot be documented.
He mainly worked in oils but also painted some fine watercolour scenes. He painted in the tradition of the academic ninenteenth century with mostly a rather darker colour scheme, while his brother Henry, influenced by the Modernist Movement in Edinburgh, painted more colourfull portraits.
He became an official War Painter and made portraits of many VC's .
His works were widely exhibited, including the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
, Royal Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...
, Royal Scottish Academy
Royal Scottish Academy
The Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
, Royal Society of Watercolourers, Royal Society of Portrait Painters
Royal Society of Portrait Painters
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters is a British association of portrait painters which holds an annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London...
, Royal Society of British Artists
Royal Society of British Artists
The Royal Society of British Artists is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy.-History:...
, Royal Cambrian Academy
Royal Cambrian Academy of Art
The Royal Cambrian Academy of Art is a centre of excellence for art in Wales. Its main gallery is located in Conwy and it has over a hundred members.thumb|right|240px|Plas Mawr, Conwy-Early history:...
, Fine Art Society
Fine Art Society
The Fine Art Society is an art dealership with two premises, one in New Bond Street, London and the other in Edinburgh . It was formed in 1876...
, and the Walker Art Gallery
Walker Art Gallery
The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England, outside of London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group, and is promoted as "the National Gallery of the North" because it is not a local or regional gallery but is part...
in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
.
Some Work
His works include:- The Farmer (1915) 51 x 61 inches
- Harry LauderHarry LauderSir Henry Lauder , known professionally as Harry Lauder, was an international Scottish entertainer, described by Sir Winston Churchill as "Scotland's greatest ever ambassador!"-Early life:...
(1915) 62 x 44 inches. (In the possession of the family.) - Captain John Lauder, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders (1915) 87 x 50 inches.(Family.)
- Portrait of a young lady (head & shoulders) (1918) 38 x 48 inches
- The New Toy (1918) 59.5 x 74 cm
- Lady Lauder (1921) (wife of Sir Harry Lauder) 50 x 40 inches. (Family.)
- After the Ball (1922) 102 x 76 cm.
- Portrait of a girl with a Rag Doll (1927) 127 x 76 cm
- Portrait of a Huntsman (1930) 61 x 51 inches
- Admiral Lord BeattyDavid Beatty, 1st Earl BeattyAdmiral of the Fleet David Richard Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO was an admiral in the Royal Navy...
in full evening dress (1930) 65 x 52 inches (last sold at Burnt Oak Auctions, WokingWokingWoking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
, Surrey, 24/9/1988). - Girl in a Green Turban (1932) 15.4 x 9.3 inches (Sothebys, London, 12/10/1988).
- Roses in a bowl on a circular table (1938) (Hall’s Welsh Bridge Salerooms, UK, 16/6/2006)
- Reclining nude 50.8 x 66 inches (Christies, South KensingtonSouth KensingtonSouth Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
, London, 11/3/2004). - On a sandy beach 50 x 40.2 inches (Sothebys, London, 28/8/1990).
- Moll FlandersMoll FlandersThe Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders is a novel written by Daniel Defoe in 1722, after his work as a journalist and pamphleteer. By 1722, Defoe had become a recognised novelist, with the success of Robinson Crusoe in 1719...
(1954) 76 x 63.5 cm/ 30 x 25 inches - Clement AttleeClement AttleeClement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
(1956) - Viscount Mackintosh of HalifaxViscount Mackintosh of HalifaxViscount Mackintosh of Halifax, of Hethersett in the County of Norfolk, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1957 for the businessman and public servant Harold Mackintosh, 1st Baron Mackintosh of Halifax. He was the owner of the confectionery business of John...
(died 27/12/1964) - The Duke of ArgyllDuke of ArgyllDuke of Argyll is a title, created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1701 and in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1892. The Earls, Marquesses, and Dukes of Argyll were for several centuries among the most powerful, if not the most powerful, noble family in Scotland...
- Sir John Black 61 x 51 inches.
- Mrs Cowan Dobson 95 x 74.7 cm
- The Countess of Weir 128 x 101.5 cm.
External links
- http://web.artprice.com/ps/artitems.aspx?view=all&idarti=NDMwNzMyNzk5NzQyNjY=&refGenre=A&page=2
- http://www.artistsfootsteps.co.uk/artists_a_z.asp?ID=34%20&loadType=2