Frank Dobson, R.A. (1888-1963)

Dobson made two plaster maquettes in 1935 in preparation for the 12ft high centrepiece he was constructing for the Chelsea Arts Club Ball of the same year. Sherwood Foster, a founding-member of the Ball and a former President of the Chelsea Arts Club, appears to have been given one of these maquettes which were of differing sizes. It is not clear whether Foster arranged for the casting of his plaster himself, or whether it was the artist. Dobson certainly knew of a foundry in Leicester, called Empire Stone, who were specialists in casting reconstructed stone materials. The other plaster maquette appears to have been destroyed, as was the plaster centrepiece itself. It was the usual practice for the centrepiece from the Ball to be destroyed at the end of the event (N. Jason and L. Thompson-Pharoah, op. cit.).