Lot 4
  • 4

Frank Dobson

Estimate
12,000 - 18,000 GBP
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Description

  • Frank Dobson
  • Dancers
  • signed
  • bronze
  • height (including base): 42cm.; 16½in.

Provenance

Whitford and Hughes, London, where acquired by the present owner circa 1970s

Exhibited

London, Leicester Galleries, Albert Rutherston, Paintings; Jean-Francois Millet, Drawings & Studies; Frank Dobson, Sculpture & Drawings, November 1921, cat. no.114 (another cast);
Wembley, Palace of Art, British Empire Exhibition, 1925 (polished brass version);
London, Arts Council Gallery, Frank Dobson 1886-1963: Memorial Exhibition of Sculpture, Drawings & Designs, 22nd June – 23rd July 1966, cat. no.2 (another cast).

 

Literature

Percy Wyndham Lewis (ed.), The Tyro: A Review of the Arts of Painting, Sculpture and Design, Issue No.1, The Egoist Press, London 1921, pl.6, p.11 (clay model illustrated, as Dancing Figures);
T.W. Earp, Frank Dobson: Sculptor, Tiranti, London 1945, pl.6a (polished brass version illustrated);
Neville Jason & Lisa Thompson-Pharoah, The Sculpture of Frank Dobson, HMF/Lund Humphries, Much Hadham/London 1994, cat. no.5, illustrated (another cast).

Condition

Dirt has gathered in some of the crevices, there are some minor marks of white surface matter to the figures' heads and the female's back otherwise the sculpture is in good overall condition. Please telephone the department on 020 7293 5381 if you have any questions regarding the present work
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Catalogue Note

One of Dobson's earliest sculptures, Dancers was created at the time when he was beginning to be accepted into the circle of avant-garde artists around Wyndham Lewis, which would lead to an invitation to exhibit in the Group X exhibition at the Mansard Gallery in spring 1920. Although relatively unknown at this point, Dobson's work shows a clear awareness of continental models, notably Zadkine and Archipenko. His choice of subject in Dancers suggests affinities with contemporaries such as Bomberg and Roberts which would have been most appealing to the artists and patrons with whom he was now associating.

The simplification of the figures and the intentional stiff angularity of their movements gives them an almost mannequin-like quality which suggests echoes of the Ballets Russes, and especially Stravinsky's Petrushka, the story of puppets brought to life, which had its first London performance in 1913. 

The exact number of casts of this sculpture is unclear, but it appears to be either three or four. Of these, at least one was in polished brass, and is the version illustrated in Earp, and thus predates Dobson's use of this medium in the well-known Sir Osbert Sitwell (Tate Collection) of 1922.