65 Paintings Of Montague Dawson (1895-1973) - British marine painter | ArtLiveAndBeauty

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Artist Montague Dawson 

Montague Dawson was born in London in 1895, the son of a marine engineer and a passionate yachtsman, and the grandson of the great painter and seascape Henry Dawson (1811-1878). He spent the most of his youth on the shore of Southampton.

Grandfather's paintings on the walls, his father's yachting interests, the "sea" ambiance of the home, the wind-filled sails at the seashore, the whistling and whistling of steamers, all contributed to his fascination with the sea and ships.

It was a period when a sail of steam was virtually completed from oceanic spaces; and every apparition of an eye-clipper or wind-bulb before the eyes of the young Montague stirred up in him a feeling of sorrow for the outgoing era but at the same time it brought romance to him.
Youth Dawson worked in 1910 in an applied art workshop at London's popular Bedford Row, but he went as a military artist for the Royal Navy as a result of the First World War.

Dawson's paintings connected to this time are fascinating, but poor, and although they periodically "stop up" at today's well-known Western auctions, modern experts in maritime painting typically ignore them.
There are two reasons for that: firstly, not all people want to view a painting on the wall of their house or workplace with a fighter ship, and secondly, Dawson's later "seaing" work is both of greater quality and numerous.
The last act of the 1st World War – the surrender of the German High Sea Fleet ships in 1918 was attended by Montague Dawson. He authored other papers on that subject thereafter.

In 1924, Dawson was deployed on the Sailing-steam yacht St. George as an official painter on an expedition into the South Seas.
He creates gorgeous scenery on their basis. The works of Dawson were written in the famous "Sphere" newspaper, a lengthy and highly successful cooperation.
Montague Dawson had already established himself in his own style, handwriting and preferences as a professionals marine artist after the First Global War. He was remarkably "found" in the image of the legendary high seas sailing ships and tea cutters.

Looking at the paintings of Dawson, the ancient sailing wolves of the sea were able to establish exactly what latitude, what ocean, the time of year of a certain ship, the sky's hue and the water of this certain area.
Dawson knew no other than how to depict sailing ships. He alone appeared able to write a ship with great accuracy and ease under the strain of the wind-flowing sails and placing them in the water.

Of course, imitators have arisen and are coming to paint their paintings "like Dawson" throughout the latter years of his life and particularly after his death. Someone's better, somebody worse, but all that, naturally, isn't Dawson... The artist was not successful
All of a sudden his distinctive way of writing. Dawson thoroughly improved his technique for 10 years following the First World War. His objective was to depict the sea in a way that no other artist could have done before him: plain and true.

At a certain moment of the day at a given geographical latitude he intended to portray all hues of light on the water and, at the same time, to demonstrate the sky and light in the water. Dawson accomplished what he desired by his unrelenting pursuit.
Both serious art collectors and fans of sailing came to order. Nevertheless, fresh tests have approached.
During World War II, Dawson was involved in an event which lifted the bar to a higher level for his painting. He went to the Navy as a martial artist again - a Sphere journal reporter.

Given the war conditions that permitted journals and magazines not to print drawings on a second-rate paper, Dawson had to move to black and white. He found the brightness of the midtones and the contrasts thanks to this.

The paintings of M.Dawson acquired an astonishing reality when this expertise was transposed to colour, not before seen in the work of others in the navy.

Dawson was aboard Royal Navy ships, participates in campaigns and struggles, listened closely to participants and remembered eyewitnesses at sea, and produced a beautiful collection of episodes, events and scenes dedicated to the Second World War. Yet his major topic remained sails.
Dawson's art is held in the National Maritime Museum (Greenwich) and Royal Navy Museum, museums, corporate and private collections on both sides of the Atlantic (Portsmouth).
Today the auction records his paintings continue and their demand is steady.

M. Dawson has made a lot of fascinating works over his lengthy and extremely complex creative biography, which reflect a full stratum of British maritime history.