Frank Dobson, R.A. (1888-1963)
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's… Read more
Frank Dobson, R.A. (1888-1963)

Two heads

Details
Frank Dobson, R.A. (1888-1963)
Two heads
stone composite
24½ in. (61 cm.) high
Carved in 1935.
Provenance
The artist.
Sherwood Foster.
Michael Jones.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 20 June 1995, lot 178, where purchased by the present owner.
Literature
N. Jason and L. Thompson-Pharoah, The Sculpture of Frank Dobson, London, 1994, p. 142, no. 116, illustrated.
Special notice
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

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Anne Haasjes

Lot Essay

Dobson made two plaster maquettes in 1935 in preparation for the 12ft high centrepiece he was constructing for the Chelsea Arts Club Ball of the same year. Sherwood Foster, a founding-member of the Ball and a former President of the Chelsea Arts Club, appears to have been given one of these maquettes which were of differing sizes. It is not clear whether Foster arranged for the casting of his plaster himself, or whether it was the artist. Dobson certainly knew of a foundry in Leicester, called Empire Stone, who were specialists in casting reconstructed stone materials. The other plaster maquette appears to have been destroyed, as was the plaster centrepiece itself. It was the usual practice for the centrepiece from the Ball to be destroyed at the end of the event (N. Jason and L. Thompson-Pharoah, op. cit.).

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