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Montague Dawson

British

(1895 – 1973)

 

Montague Dawson is one of the best-known marine artist of the 20th century. He is known for his accurately detailed scenes of sailing ships and the deep sea.

 

Both his father and grandfather were marine painters and this maritime background was reinforced when, as a boy his family moved to Southampton, on England’s south coast. Dawson was not formally trained and began as a commercial artist in a studio in London about 1910, working on posters and illustrations. At the outbreak of World War I he joined the Royal Navy where he illustrated images of war for publication.

 

After the war, Dawson returned to work as a painter and illustrator concentrating on historical subjects and sailing ships, usually under full sail on the deep ocean. He achieved great commercial success starting in the 1920’s and his works often exhibited at the Royal Society of Marine Artists and the Royal Academy of Art between 1916 and 1936.

 

In the 1930’s Dawson moved to Milford-on-sea in Hampshire and during the Second World War he again illustrated events of the war. He continued a painting career that was one of the most commercially successful of the 20th Century. He died in Sussex in 1973.

 

Today works by Montague Dawson grace the private collections of royalty and presidents as well as important museums worldwide.