Thomas Cantrell Dugdale should not be confused with Tom Chantrell.
| Thomas Cantrell Dugdale | |
| Birth Date: | 2 June 1880 |
| Birth Place: | Blackburn, Lancashire, England |
| Death Place: | London |
| Nationality: | British |
| Field: | Portrait painting |
Thomas Cantrell Dugdale (2 June 1880 – 13 November 1952) was a British artist. He was a member of the Royal Academy, was a renowned portrait painter and served as a war artist in both World War One and World War Two.
Dugdale was born in Blackburn in Lancashire and attended Manchester Grammar School.[1] He initially studied art at the Manchester School of Art before continuing his studies at the Royal College of Art.[2] He also studied at the City and Guilds of London Art School and in Paris at the Academie Julian and the Académie Colarossi.[3] [4] Dugdale first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1901 and continued to do so until 1952.[5] In 1910 he enlisted in the British Army and during World War One, Dugdale served as a Staff Sergeant in the Middlesex Yeomanry in Egypt, Palestine and Gallipoli.[6] While on active service Dugdale continued to paint and four of these pieces were acquired by the British War Memorials Committee. A selection of Dugdale's paintings from Palestine and Egypt were shown at the Leicester Galleries in London in April 1919.[7] The Witt Library has a number of political cartoons by Dugdale, possibly dating from around 1914 but it is unclear if, or where, they were intended for publication.[8]
During World War Two, Dugdale lived in Suffolk where he organised a Home Guard unit.[1] Throughout the conflict, from July 1940 to July 1945, Dugdale received portrait commissions from the War Artists' Advisory Committee to depict several merchant seaman and RAF pilots.[9] [10]
In addition to his oil paintings, Dugdale designed book covers and was also a textile designer. Early in his career he designed woodcut decorations for some books.[8] For twenty years, from 1919, Dugdale was an advisor to the textile company Tootal Broadhurst Lee.[3] He was married to a fellow artist, Amy Katherine Browning from 1916.[11] [12]
His work was also part of the art competitions at the 1932 Summer Olympics and the 1948 Summer Olympics.[13]