Robert Dickerson

The Businessmen (securing the mortgage)

The Single Girl

The Socialite

Contemplation

The Greeting

The Actor

The Embrace

Young Girl

The Embrace

Pensive

Mother And Child

Woman With Spring Flowers

Untitled (children)

Fishing In The Maroochy

Lovers

Street Scene – Surry Hills

The Client

Nude

The Face

Young Woman Posing With Hands Clasped

Mother And Child c 1960

The Lovers

Geisha Girl

The Socialite

The Artist

The Lawyers

Girl In A Street With Terrace Houses

The Appeal

Japanese Girl With Red

Man In A Street

The Deal

Yes Your Honour

Mariko

Two Sisters

Girl With Cat

Holding Hands

Girl With Daisy

Reflection

Man On The Street

Close Friends

Loving

The Model

Mother And Child

Brother And Sister

Girl In Creek

Man In The Hallway

Young Child

Girl In Green Dress

La Bella Donna

Geishas

Blue Lady

Girl Dreaming

The Couple – Paris

Girl In Green Kimono

Pensive Girl

The Beautiful Girl

Madonna

Portrait In Pink

The Confidants

Tryst

Young Boy

Brothers

Geisha In Thought

The Interrogation 1988

ROBERT DICKERSON

B: Hurstville, Sydney 1924 D: 2015

Biography

Born in Sydney in 1924, Robert Dickerson was the son of a tinsmith and grew up against a backdrop of hardship in the Great Depression of the 1930s. From an early age, he was a factory worker, fashioning tin funnels and scoops. Any time the tools were downed, Dickerson would hurry to Sydney’s major museums to draw and study the greats of the art world.
At the age of 14 Dickerson left school and, two years later, ran away with a professional boxing troupe, touring Australia until the age of 18, when he joined the R.A.A.F for World War II. Until that point, painting was still a ‘spare time’ occupation. But in the jungles of Borneo, after the war was over, Dickerson suddenly found the time needed to develop his passion. He really began to draw and paint, with the bright-eyed children of Borneo his subjects. He used any available material – charcoal, plywood, whitewash, even boot polish.
On his return to Australia, Dickerson took up factory jobs, and for the next ten years he worked in labouring jobs, and painted at weekends. However, in 1956, his focus would change as he sold his first painting to the National Gallery of Victoria. After a delayed start, his trajectory into the art world was incredibly swift. In 1957, after winning an Australian Woman’s Weekly competition he was for the first time able to buy art supplies and within three years he was working as a full time artist.
In 1959 he joined Charles Blackman, Arthur Boyd and John Molvig, to form the Antipodeans. Figurative artists determined to make a statement opposing abstractionism in their day, their influence was instrumental in shaping Australian art history.

Solo Exhibitions

1997, 99, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2012 Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Sydney
2011 Shoalhaven City Regional Gallery
1998, 99, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2011 Stafford Studios, Western Australia
2001, 04, 06, 08, 10 Dickerson Gallery, Melbourne
2009 Recent works, ACGA Gallery at Federation Square
2001, 04, 05, 06 (Pastels, prints and drawings) Dickerson Gallery, Sydney
2002 -04 Chiaroscuro, touring exhibition to Nolan Gallery, Tharwa, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Toowoomba
Regional Art Gallery, Horsham Art Gallery, Grafton Regional Art Gallery, Shoalhaven City Arts Centre 2003 The Complete Graphics Newcastle Region Art Museum, Newcastle, NSW
1996, 2002, 03 Kensington Gallery, Adelaide
1976, 77, 92, 96, 99, 2000, 02 Philip Bacon, Brisbane
1985, 89, 91, 98, 2001 Art Gallery Schubert, Queensland
2000 Rex Irwin Art Dealer, Melbourne Art Fair
1986, 1998, 2000 Greythorn Gallery, Victoria
1994 Kenthurst Gallery, NSW
1993 Caulfield Arts Complex (with Andrew Ivanyi) Bell Gallery, Berrima, NSW
1992 Noosa Regional Gallery
Gallery 406, Gosford, NSW
1991 England & Co Gallery, London
1987 Greenhill Gallery, Perth
Melbourne Art Exchange
1984 Holdsworth Gallery (Tokyo Show)
1983 Masterpiece Gallery, Hobart
Anvil Gallery, Wodonga, Victoria
1981 Forbes Town Hall, NSW
Georges Gallery, Melbourne
1980 Avenel Bee Gallery, Adelaide
1979 Adelaide Fine Arts & Graphics
1977 De Keopelkirker, Amsterdam
1976 Graphics Gallery, Manuka ACT
1974, 83, 87 Greenhill Gallery, Adelaide
Grand Central Gallery, Brisbane
1973, 76 Andrew Ivanyi Gallery, Melbourne
1973 Qantas Gallery, London
1973, 75, 78, 83, 86, 88, 90, 93, 95 Holdsworth Gallery, Sydney
1972, 74, 77 Lister Gallery, Perth
1972 Bakehouse Gallery, Mackay
John Cooper Gallery, Queensland
1970 John Gild Gallery, Perth
Adelaide Festival Exhibition
Leveson Street Gallery, Melbourne
1968 Australian Galleries, Melbourne
Hungry Horse Gallery, Sydney
1964, 65 Kym Bonython Gallery, Brisbane
1964, 67, 69, 71, 73 Johnstone Gallery, Brisbane
1962, 66, 67, 70, 82 Von Bertouch Gallery, Newcastle
1962, 63 Clune Gallery, Sydney
1962, 69, 81 Barry Stern Gallery, Sydney
1960, 61 Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney
1959, 67 Farmers Blaxland Gallery, Sydney
1956, 58 Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne

Awards & Prizes

2002 Artist in Residence, Moonee Valley Race Club VIC
1990 DDB Needham Inaugural Art Prize
1975 Gold Coast Art Prize
1966 Mirror-Waratah (shared Grand Prize)
1965 RAS Easter Show, Human Image Prize
1959 Tumut Prize
1958 Blake Prize (second place)
1954 Clint Prize

Collections

Works in most regional gallery collections and important corporate collections in Australia including:
National Gallery of Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales
National Gallery of Victoria
Queensland Art Gallery
Art Gallery of South Australia
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
Newcastle Region Art Museum
Australian National University
University of Melbourne
University of Western Australia
University of Sydney
Artbank

Selected Bibliography

2002 Powell, L.; “Robert Dickerson – The Complete Graphics” Queen Street Fine Art, Sydney
1995 Dickerson, J.; “Robert Dickerson – Against the Tide”; Pandanus Press (reprinted 2004, Publisher: Queen Street Fine Art)
1995 Heathcote, Christopher; “A Quiet Revolution – The rise of Australian Art, 1946-1968”; Text Publishing Company; Melbourne
1973 Burton, B. &Splatt, W.; “100 Masterpieces of Australian Painting”; Rigby Catalano, G.; “The Years of Hope, Australian Art and Criticism 1959-1968”; OUP
1978 “City Art”; Heinemann Educational Australia Pty Ltd
1971 Gleeson, J.; “Modern Painters 1931-70”; Lansdowne Press
1981 Haese, R.; “Rebels and Precursors: The Revolutionary Years of Australian Art”; Allen Lane Ringwood 1970 Hughes, R.; “The Art of Australia”; Penguin; Hammondsworth
1958 Luck, R.K.; “A Guide to Modern Australian Paintings”; Sun Books; Melbourne
1958 “Modern Australian Art”; Museum of Modern Art; Melbourne
1974 Smith, B.; “Australian Painting 1799 – 1970”; Oxford University Press
1976 Thomas, L.; “The Most Noble Art of Them All”; University of Queensland Press
1971 “Two Hundred Years of Australian Painting”; Bay Books; Sydney

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