'Born in Newcastle in 1899, William Dobell came to art late. A poor student, he left school as soon as he could and was apprenticed to a local architect to train as a draftsman because he had revealed some talent for drawing as a youth. Dobell moved to Sydney in 1924, where he worked for a time as a draftsman at the Redfern workshops of Wunderlich, manufacturers of architectural metalwork and terracotta. His flair for drawing resulted in a move to the firm’s advertising department and evening classes at Julian Ashton’s Sydney Art School, where he began serious studies in drawing and painting. It was only then, as he approached the age of 30, that Dobell realised his true vocation.
'...On his return, [from study in England, in 1939] Dobell was received almost immediately as an artist of considerable substance. Hailed by many as the greatest Australian portraitist ever, official acclaim and popular fame attended much of his career. In large part, this stemmed from the widespread controversy generated by the Archibald Prize of 1943 – which Dobell was awarded for a portrait of Joshua Smith – and the infamous court case that followed it.
'While he was known for landscapes and genre paintings, it was his major portraits, including those of Margaret Olley (1948), Dame Mary Gilmore (1957) and Helena Rubinstein (1963), that cemented his reputation. He was knighted in 1966....'
We are interested now in his rendering of a cat--
And rate this artist on this basis, highly.
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