The Art of John Charles Dollman Rws, Roi, Ri, Rbc
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THE ART OF JOHN CHARLES DOLLMAN RWS, ROI, RI, RBC, FRES. WALTER J. DOLLMAN THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE NOVEMBER 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE i TABLE OF CONTENTS ii LIST OF PLATES v ABSTRACT viii DECLARATION ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS x ABBREVIATIONS xi Chapter I: A PLACE IN ART HISTORY Introduction 1 The Artist and his Art 2 Context and Form 5 Themes in this Research 8 Thesis Structure 11 Resources 11 Chapter II: J. C. DOLLMAN IN CONTEXT Introduction 13 Early Days 13 Royal Academy Schools 19 Primrose Hill Studios and Bedford Park 23 The Graphic and Middle Years 27 Thoughts on Art 31 Later Years 34 Biographical Summary 35 Chapter III: “BLACK AND WHITE”: THE GRAPHIC’S DRAFTSMAN, 1875 – 1990 Introduction 37 The Graphic 38 Dollman and The Graphic 43 The Graphic’s Influence on Dollman 57 ii Chapter IV: SOCIAL REALISM: REPRESENTING THE DISPOSSESSED Realism 59 Social Realism 59 Dollman and Social Realism 64 The Immigrants’ Ship 66 And Some fell by the Wayside 70 Am I My Brother’s Keeper 73 Related Works 78 Dollman’s Legacy to Social Realism 79 Chapter V. ANIMALIA: “LANDSEER’S SUCCESSOR” Introduction 80 Edwin Landseer’s Successor 82 Dollman’s Interests in Animalia 84 Dollman’s Early Animal Portraits and Sentimental Studies 86 Animal Subject Narrative Paintings 91 Allegory, Symbolism and ‘Problem’ Pictures 94 Animals from Literature and History 98 Animals in the Background 103 Natural history 104 Animalia Summary 105 Chapter VI: HISTORY AND NARRATIVE: “PAINTING IN THE GRAND MANNER” British History and Narrative Painting Overview 107 Dollman and History / Narrative Painting 109 Biblical Paintings 111 Dramatic Incident 115 Social and Political Paintings 127 Literature 130 Allegory 136 Mythology 138 History and Narrative Painting – Summary 140 iii Chapter VII: DOLLMAN AND THE ART OF WAR: “FOR KING AND COUNTRY” Introduction 142 Boer War Painting 144 The Great War 145 Dollman’s War Paintings in Context 164 Dollman’s Contribution to War Art 167 Chapter VIII GENRE: PICTURES OF EVERYDAY LIFE Background to Genre 168 Dollman and Genre 170 Summary 185 Chapter IX: LANDSCAPE PAINTING: EN PLEIN AIR ON THE SOUTH DOWNS Introduction 187 Dollman and Ditchling 188 English Landscape Painting 192 Dollman’s Sussex ‘Ideal’ 194 Chapter X: AESTHETICS & NEO CLASSICISM: THE NEW ‘HIGH ART’ Introduction 204 Dollman, Waterhouse and Others 205 The Classical Revival Movement 207 Dollman’s Neo-classical Paintings 210 Chapter XI: CONCLUSION Objectives 222 The Problem with Dollman 222 Dollman’s relevance 223 BIBLIOGRAPHY 230 iv LIST OF PLATES CHAPTER II 1 The Devil’s Dyke 2 Jack O’Lantern 3 March Past after the Review 4 The Dandy 5 His only friend 6 J. C. DollmAn c.1875 7 DollmAn in his studio 8 12 and 14 Newton Grove, Bedford Park 9 Some Bespoke fittings At no. 14. 10 Bars van der Veen 11 ImmediAte FAmily CHAPTER III 12 A Gypsy Encampment on Putney Common 13 Etchers At work in The Graphic studios in 1880 14 The Relief of Ekowe 15 Siege of Morosi’s Mountain (1) 16 Siege of Morosi’s Mountain (2) 17 Defeat of Baker Pasha’s Force at Teb in its attempt to relieve Tokar, February 4 18 Canadian Governor General 19 Opium den at the East End 20 Christmas Day at the Seamen’s Hospital 21 DetAil : Friends in adversity 22 Waiting to see the Doctor 23 Before the Magistrate – Unfit for Work 24 Are You Ready? 25 Vol. I, II, III 26 The Fox on One Tree Hill CHAPTER IV 27 The Immigrants’ Ship 28 Last of England 29 Hard Times 30 “And Some Fell by the Wayside” 31 “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 32 “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (WC) 33 Study: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” 34 Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward CHAPTER V 35 Monarch of the Glen 36 The Old Shepherd’s Chief Mourner 37 Sympathy v 38 Two Pointers 39 Dash II 40 Table d’hôte at a dogs’ home 41 The Dog’s Refuge 42 Les Misérables 43 Pro Bono Publico 44 The unknown 45 Kismet 46 Mowgli made leader of the Bandar-Log 47 “For he believed in his God” - Dan. vi 48 Daniel in the Lion’s Den, B. Rivière 49 Daniel’s answer to the King, B. Rivière 50 St Antony 51 The Borrowed Plume 52 Tigers CHAPTER VI 53 Gold 54 PhotogrAph: J. C. DollmAn confronting temptAtion 55 The burial of the Indian Chief 56 Up a tree 57 The hunter 58 Satisfactory Solution 59 The Ravagers 60 PhotogrAph: HerewArd DollmAn As Artist’s model 61 The field of honour 62 The Highwayman 63 “A very gallant gentleman” 64 Cartoon, The Times 1995 65 Study for “A very gallant gentleman” 66 The stymie 67 During the time of the Sermonses 68 Crusoe 69 Crusoe 1899 70 “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown” 71 “If it were done…. “ 72 The awakening of Titania 73 Famine 74 The Leprechaun 1907 75 The ride of the Valkyries 76 Ride of the Valkyries, W. T. MAud CHAPTER VII 77 The Zulu War – Isandula 78 Harvest 79 The Reckoning 80 “Tipperary” vi 81 Howitzer Firing, Paul NAsh 82 Travoys Arriving with Wounded, StAnley Spencer 83 Zonnebeke, 1918, WilliAm Orpen 84 The creditors 85 “Fraternité” 86 Anno Domini 1917 87 The altar 88 The silence 89 Silence (WC) in the Queen’s doll House CHAPTER VIII 90 La Malade Imaginaire 91 The Ships Belle 92 “Worse things happen at sea” 93 London to York 94 London to York Coach outside the Black Swan Inn 95 No Sale 96 Before the Magistrate, Unfit for Work 97 Friends in adversity 98 The Village Artist 99 The rising generation 100 Untitled study of Fox Hunters And FArmer 101 Old Gentleman at his Desk CHAPTER IX 102 Richmond Bridge 103 PhotogrAph: J. C. DollmAn And WAlter DollmAn 104 Shepherd on the South Downs 105 Sussex 1906 106 Below Ditchling Beacon, South Downs 107 Genre detail within Below Ditchling Beacon 108 Afternoon from Fulking Down, Sussex 109 Genre detail within Afternoon from Fulking Down, 110 The Cloud 111 Dew CHAPTER X 112 Orpheus 113 The spell 114 The mischief god 115 The enchantress 116 Enchantment 117 Circe vii ABSTRACT This research argues the relevance of John Charles Dollman Jnr (1851 – 1934) to late Victorian and early 20th-century British art. Dollman was a Royal Academy trained artist who painted for fifty years, primarily from his large home in London but also from a country studio in rural Sussex. Little has been written on Dollman in the context of his art, time or place. This is despite the popularity of a number of his significant paintings that remain on permanent display throughout the Anglo-world. A high level objective of this thesis is to remedy this paucity of knowledge surrounding Dollman, and so provide the “primary context” to any appreciation of his works. Studying Dollman reveals a number of aspects to his art that make him special. His abundant output and his equal competence in both oils and water colours are two. But it is his brilliance as an animalier that makes him distinctive. It is A contention of this thesis that Dollman was the natural late 19th–century successor to Edwin Landseer. Dollman was also competent in all the traditional genres. He could paint history, dramatic narrative, war, social realism, animalia, mythology, allegory, genre, neoclassicism, sport, portrait, still life and landscape. Apart from this versatility, what made him singular was how he applied his skills as a painter of animals across all these styles. It is also Argued that this versatility is the very reason that he has been largely forgotten. Dollman was financially secure and personal interests informed much of his work. He was sensitive to social issues and their consequences, and passionate about natural history, entomology, anthropology and sport. His scientific and objective studies were widely published. Dollman continued painting in the traditional genres, especially the classical revival style, well after the golden period of Victorian painting. He was amongst the remaining few traditional artists to resist the inroads of modernism, his paintings being regularly selected for exhibition by the Royal Academy up until his death in 1934. viii DECLARATION I certify that this work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in my name in any university or other tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. In addition, I certify that no part of this work will, in the future, be used in a submission in my name for any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution without the prior approval of the University of Adelaide and where applicable, any partner institution responsible for the joint award of this degree. I give consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the University Library, being made available for loan and photocopying, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I also give permission for the digital version of my thesis to be made available on the web, via the University’s digital research repository, the Library Search and also through web search engines, unless permission has been granted by the University to restrict access for a period of time. 27 November 2015 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply grateful to my supervisor Dr Robert Dare for his invaluable support, guidance, enthusiasm, and unfailing encouragement throughout my research.