Cowan Dobson

Cowan Dobson (1893 – 1980), ARBA (1919), RBA (1922), was a Scottish artist.

He was born at Bradford, Yorkshire, a son of Scottish artist Henry John Dobson (1858-1928) who famously painted the Labour leader James Keir Hardie (1856 – 1915) in 1893. Cowan’s brother, Henry Raeburn Dobson, was also an artist. Cowan married and his wife’s Christian name was Phyllis, but her maiden name is presently unknown. She sat for the famous photographer Alexander Bassano, the resulting portrait now being at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Cowan Dobson resided in Dumfries & Galloway, where, in 1918, he was using his father’s studio at Dalry. Later he is said to have rented Kenmure Castle, New Galloway, in the 1930s and 1940s to entertain and paint fashionable sitters. He mainly worked in oils but also painted some fine watercolour scenes.

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.

His works include:

• The Farmer (1915) 51 x 61inches
• Harry Lauder (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 74cm
• Lady Lauder (1921) (wife of Sir Harry Lauder) 50 x 40 inches. (Family.)
• After the Ball (1922) 102 x 76cm.
• Portrait of a girl with a Rag Doll (1927) 127 x 76cm
• Portrait of a Huntsman (1930) 61 x 51inches
• Admiral Lord Beatty in full evening dress (1930) 65 x 52 inches (last sold at Burnt Oak Auctions, Woking, 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 Kensington, London, 11/3/2004).
• On a sandy beach 50 x 40.2 inches (Sothebys, London, 28/8/1990).
• Moll Flanders (1954) 76 x 63.5cm/ 30 x 25 inches
• Clement Attlee (1956)
• Viscount Mackintosh of Halifax (died 27/12/1964)
• The Duke of Argyll
• Sir John Black 61 x 51inches.
• Mrs Cowan Dobson 95 x 74.7cm
• The Countess of Weir 128 x 101.5cm.

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
• http://www.leicestergalleries.co.uk/provenart/dealer_stock_details.cgi?d_id=&a_id=10577