Colour, Light, Texture: Portraits by Matthew Smith and Frank Dobson

Slightly contrived but attractive exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery looking at the work of the painter Sit Matthew Smith and the sculptor, Frank Dobson.

I say contrived because the only link between them is that they were close contemporaries. They don’t seem to have met or influenced each other!

Smith was friends with Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and hence the exhibition includes a lovely picture of their daughter Angelica Garnett. There was also a nice picture of Raold Dahl in his RAF uniform.

The most interesting Frank Dobson pieces were the plaster head of Osbert Sitwell and the polished bronze finished version. It has a stylish art deco style. According to the blurb Sitwell was planning Façade at the time of the sittings and Dobson ended up designing the back drop.

Review
Telegraph

 

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