Robert Dickerson is 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 Id ever make."

Dickerson’s work evades the sentimental. His figures are often isolated, caught haunting dark streetscapes with anguished expressions. In 1971, Hal Missingham, 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."

A founding member of the Antipodeans, Dickerson’s work is a unique and compelling touchstone of Modernism. Pensive Thoughts is no exception—its paired subjects share a quiet intensity, each absorbed in their own interior world. At once distant yet affecting, this dual portrait is quintessential Dickerson. For collectors of Modern art, portraiture and Dickerson, Pensive Thoughts is a bracing find.

Robert DICKERSON (1924 - 2015)
'Pensive Thoughts'
charcoal on paper
Image Size: 70 x 85 cm
Dimensions: 102 x 116 x 4 cm
Signed: Signed 'Dickerson' lower right.

Comes with Letter of Provenance

Condition: Excellent

(c) Robert Dickerson / Copyright Agency