Francis Dodd

Eltham, London

1932

Printmaker and pinter Francis Edgar Dodd was the born in Holyhead, Wales, on Novemeber 29, 1874. His formal art training began at the Glasgow School of Art under Fra Newbery and Archibald Kay, and in 1893 he was awarded the Haldane Scholarship to travel and study throughout Europe, going to France, Italy, and Spain. He became friends with fellow student Muirhead Bone, who later became his brother-in-law. In 1895 Dodd moved to Manchester and then finally settled in Blackheath, London, where he set up his studio. With the onset of World War I Dodd was sent to the Western Front as a war artist for the War Propaganda Bureau (WPB), creating thirty portraits of military officials. This aided in his professional reputation after the war ended and he found success as a portraitist, in addition to his work in printmaking. In 1929 he was appointed a trustee of the Tate Gallery, and in 1927 he was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Academy, earning Full Member status in 1935. Dodd continued to live in Blackheath until his death by suicide in 1949. Exhibited: New English Art Club; Royal Academy; Royal Watercolour Society.