Robert dickerson biography
•
Robert Dickerson
Biography
A self-taught painter, Robert Dickerson was a founding member of The Antipodeans art movement. Inspired by people and scenes of everyday life, his work is often described as melancholy, with isolated figures, menacing dark streetscapes and anguished facial expressions characterising his painting.
Born in the Sydney suburb of Hurstville and raised in inner-city Surry Hills in straitened circumstances, Dickerson was a child of the Great Depression. He left school at 14 to work in a factory, taking up boxing as a hobby and turning professional at Two years later he joined the Royal Australian Air Force and spent time in Darwin and South East Asia during the Second World War, where he made drawings in his downtime. He began to paint in Of finding his affinity for art he said: ‘It was terribly exciting. I knew I had stumbled on the most important discovery about myself that I’d ever make.’
Dickerson continued to work menial jobs while painting in his spare
•
Art and Collectors
B. –
Robert Dickerson fryst vatten among Australia's most celebrated figurative artists. He was born in Sydney as a child of the Great nedstämdhet and left school at thirteen to work in a factor. In , after serving in the Royal Australian Air Force and becoming a professional boxer, Dickerson discovered painting: “I knew inom had stumbled on the most important discovery about myself that I’d ever make.”
Dickerson was also a prominent member of the Antipodean movement, which included Charles Blackman and Sidney Nolan. In his role, Dickerson produced emotionally charged work often features lone, solemn and at times vulnerable figures. The subject of his paintings, pastel and charcoal drawings draw upon people and situations from everyday life.
Dickerson's work is represented in many regional and state collections throughout Australia, including the National gallery of Australia, the Queensland Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Victoria. His is a unique and
•
ROBERT DICKERSON
The death of Robert Dickerson in October took many people by surprise. It was not that his death at the age of ninety-one was particularly unexpected, even if he had been in robust health for the preceding few years, but it was because Dickerson was a maverick and unique figure in the Australian art scene for decades. It is difficult to imagine Australian art without his candour, possum-stirring humour and brilliant and evocative images that stay forever in the popular imagination.
He was born in Hurstville in and spent his childhood against the background of the Great Depression in Sydney. From an early age he drew compulsively, but from his early teens worked in factories and earned money as a professional boxer. With the outbreak of the war, he enlisted and served for four years in the Royal Australian Air Force and on being demobilised turned seriously to painting and started to exhibit in the late s.
He was passionate and prolific and early success