Robert Dickerson was a leading figure of Australian modernism. A child of the depression, he left school at fourteen to work in a factory. In 1947, after serving in the Royal Australian Air Force and becoming a professional boxer, Dickerson discovered painting: “I knew I had stumbled on the most important discovery about myself that I’d ever make.”

Dickerson’s work evades the sentimental. His characters are isolated, caught haunting dark streetscapes with anguished expressions. In 1971 Hal Missingham, the then director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, reflected that “Bob’s pictures… are about humans, not effigies or abstractions, not cerebral adventures but a straight-out interest in people and their astonishing situations and commitments”.

‘The Watcher’ exudes mystery. In a palette that scarcely strays from blue, Dickerson paints a woman watching two figures pass her window. Is she a spy, in hiding or just curious? Like Edward Hopper, Dickerson spins poetry from the industrialised loneliness of modern life. A founding member of the Antipodeans, Dickerson and his ‘The Watcher’ is a sterling addition to collections of modern Australian art.

Robert DICKERSON (1924 - 2015)
'The Watcher' 1996
acrylic on canvas
Image Size: 90 x 90 cm
Dimensions: 106 x 106 x 5 cm
Signed: Signed lower right
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Condition: Excellent

(c) Robert Dickerson / Copyright Agency 2024