Dorothea Sharp

Dorothea Sharp
Born 1874
Dartford, Kent
Died 17 December 1955[1]
London[2]
Nationality British
Education Regent Street Polytechnic
Known for painting
Awards RBA Bronze Medal, 1931[2][3]
Elected Society of Women Artists
(1908)
Royal Society of British Artists (1907)[1]
Royal Institute of Oil Painters (1922)[1]

Dorothea Sharp ROI RBA (born 1874 in Dartford, Kent - died 17 December 1955 aged 81[1]) was a British artist best known for her landscapes and naturalistic studies of children at play.[2]

Life & Career

Sharp began her training aged 21, when, after inheriting £100 from an uncle, she attended the Richmond art school run by C. E. Johnson RI.[4] She went on to study at the Regent Street Polytechnic, where her work was admired by George Clausen and David Murray.[4][5] She went on to Paris,[2] where she first encountered the work of the Impressionists - in particular Claude Monet - that was to have a profound and lasting effect on her art, resulting in the highly impressionistic and spontaneous style that she was to adopt for the rest of her life.[4]

In 1903 she became an Associate of the Society of Women Artists, and in 1908 a full member,[4] going on to serve as vice-president for 4 years.[2] She was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1907 and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1922.[1][2] Sharp exhibited at The Royal Academy from 1901-1948[2][4] and held her first one-woman show at the Connell Gallery in 1933; this was a great success[4] and she was described as ‘one of England’s greatest living woman painters’ by Harold Sawkins, editor of The Artist.[6] Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Sharp travelled to Europe to paint, and also to St Ives, Cornwall, where she met fellow artist Marcella Smith, who became a lifelong friend. Sharp was made an honorary member of the St. Ives Society of Artists (STISA) in 1928.[5]

Sharp died on 17 December 1955, aged 81.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "SHARP, Dorothea". Who Was Who. A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "Miss Dorothea Sharp". The Times. 20 December 1955. p. 9. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  3. ↑ "R.B.A. Award Of Medals". The Times. 24 April 1931. p. 9. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Taylor, Hilary. "Dorothea Sharp, 1874-1955". Howgill Tattershall Fine Art. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Dorothea SHARP". Cornwall Artists' Index. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  6. ↑ Sawkins, Harold (April 1935). The Artist. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links