Dorothea Sharp

Sharp was born in Dartford, Kent, and began her training aged 21, when, after inheriting £100 from an uncle, she attended the Richmond art school run by C. E. Johnson RI.[4] She went on to study at the Regent Street Polytechnic, where her work was admired by George Clausen and David Murray.[4][5] She went on to Paris,[1] where she first encountered the work of the Impressionists – in particular Claude Monet – that was to have a profound and lasting effect on her art, resulting in the highly impressionistic and spontaneous style that she was to adopt for the rest of her life.[4]

In 1903 she became an Associate of the Society of Women Artists, and in 1908 a full member,[4] going on to serve as vice-president for 4 years.[1] She was elected a member of the Royal Society of British Artists in 1907 and the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1922.[3][1] Sharp exhibited at The Royal Academy from 1901–1948[1][4] and held her first one-woman show at the Connell Gallery in 1933; this was a great success[4] and she was described as ‘one of England’s greatest living woman painters’ by Harold Sawkins, editor of The Artist.[6] Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Sharp travelled to Europe (e.g. Cassis) to paint, and also to Bosham and St Ives, Cornwall, where she met fellow artist Marcella Smith, who became a lifelong friend. Sharp was made an honorary member of the St. Ives Society of Artists (STISA) in 1928.[5]

Sharp died on 17 December 1955, aged 81.

• Entwisle, Helen (2008). Rock Pools and Sunshine: The Biography of Dorothea Sharp. William Sessions Limited. ISBN 978-1850723783.

• 28 paintings by or after Dorothea Sharp at the Art UK site