Dod PROCTER (1892-1972) ✿

 "Morning" by Dod Procter

One of favorite pictures of all time is "Morning" by Dod Procter, who painted it when she was 34. They say it made her famous overnight. To me, this represents art deco period painting at it's finest. The sculptural quality of this figure is astounding. This painting is in the Tate.

"This was voted Picture of the Year at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1927 and bought for the nation by the Daily Mail newspaper. From c.1922 Dod Procter had begun to paint a series of simple, monumental portraits of young women that she knew, utilizing the fall of light across the figures to give a powerful sense of volume. The model was Cissie Barnes, the sixteen year old daughter of a fisherman from Newlyn, the Cornish village that was home to Dod Procter for most of her working life. The popularity of this painting led to its being displayed in New York, followed by a tour of Britain from 1927 to 1929."

Ernest Procter; Doris Margaret ('Dod') Procter (née Shaw)

Dod Procter (born Doris Shaw, 1892 – 1972) was a Cornish artist, and wife of artist Ernest Procter.Her painting, Morning, was bought for the nation by the Daily Mail in 1927.
Dod Procter studied at Newlyn under Stanhope Forbes and at the Académie Colarossi, Paris.
From around 1922, Proctor painted a series of simplified, monumental images of young women of her acquaintance.They were typified by the volume of the figures, brought out by her use of light and shadow.
When her painting, Morning, in this series, was displayed at the 1927 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, it was voted Picture of the Year and bought by the Daily Mail for the Tate gallery, where it now hangs.Procter sold the work for £300, but could have achieved ten times that amount.Prior to its permanent home in the Tate, its popularity resulted in its showing in New York, and then a two year tour of Britain.
Both public and critics responded to its "sensuous but sombre style" which evoked the west Cornish "silver light". Frank Rutter, art critic of The Sunday Times, said in 1927 that Morning was "a new vision of the human figure which amounts to the invention of a twentieth century style in portraiture" and "She has achieved apparently with consummate ease that complete presentation of twentieth century vision in terms of plastic design after which Derain and other much praised French painters have been groping for years past." The model for the work was a Newlyn fisherman's 16 year old daughter, Cissie Barnes.
The subjects of her pictures are largely portraits and flowers. During her lifetime and after her death her work fell out of favour.
Newlyn was Procter's home for most of her working life.