Truth (1930)

Frank Owen Dobson

bronze

Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Classification:

Sculpture

Materials:

Bronze

Physical Object Description:

Inscribed ‘Dobson’ at back of base.

Dimensions:

124.5 x 80 x 69 cm

Accession Number:

N04510

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1930

Scheme:

Historic Purchase by Purchaser (1914-2008)

Ownership history:

Purchased from the artist at the Leicester Galleries, London by Lord Ivor Charles Spencer-Churchill (1898 - 1956) for the Contemporary Art Society (with help of £450 public subscription), 1930; presented to the Tate Gallery, 1930

Relationship:

Ivor Charles Spencer-Churchill Leicester Galleries, London Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Although Frank Dobson appreciated the importance of direct carving, he denied that there was an essential distinction between carving and modelling; what was important was dealing with the material three-dimensionally. Aside from his early interest in non-western art, Dobson was greatly influenced by the work of the French artist Aristide Maillol. Maillol was an earlier follower of Rodin, whose nude sculptures echoed the smooth lines and forms of ancient Greek sculpture. The actual plaster cast for this work was exhibited at the British Pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 1932. Kineton Parkes writes ‘In Truth, the life-size statue in bronze of 1930, culminates the phase of intensive modelling with which Dobson was occupied for four or five years.’ A second bronze cast was bought by the Canadian financier Sir James Dunn (1874-1956).

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