Dod Procter

Dod Procter (born Doris Margaret Shaw; 1890 – 1972) was an early twentieth-century English artist, best known for Impressionistic landscapes and delicate "nearly sculptural studies of solitary female subjects." Her sensual portrait, Morning, of a fisherman's daughter in Newlyn, caused a sensation. It was bought for the public by the Daily Mail in 1927. The family moved to Tavistock in Devon, but after the death of her husband, Dod's mother moved the family to Newlyn in 1907. In Newlyn, Dod met Laura Knight, who became a lifelong friend and a considerable influence on her career. The family established a home at North Corner in Cornwall.

During World War I Ernest served in France working with a Friends' Ambulance Unit detachment. The Procters also created designs for etched crystal. From around 1922, she 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 Morning 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 hanging in the Tate, Morning was shown in New York, and then on a two-year tour of Britain. 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." Despite this, a number of the nude paintings by Procter that accompanied Morning on tour were deemed unsuitable for display by some venues. Also considered controversial was Procter's 1929 submission to the Royal Academy. Virginal showed a young female nude holding a dove and when the Academy rejected the painting the story was reported in the several national newspapers.

1930s and after In the 1930s Procter's style of painting changed completely. Works such as The Orchard (1934), Sheila Among the Ferns (1935) and Kitchen at Myrtle Cottage (1935) display the meticulous finish and lighting of her earlier work but without her previous hard lines and solidly delineated bodies of colour. A floral design by Procter was among the winning entries in the 1933 Famous Artists competition run by Cadbury's for a series of chocolate box designs and which were displayed at the Leicester Galleries in London. Ernest Procter died unexpectedly while travelling in 1935. The couple had often staged joint exhibitions at the Leicester Galleries and Dod continued to do so after Ernest's death. Garstin's influence was apparent in Procter's work in the latter part of her career. She became a full member of the Royal Academy in 1942.

In the early 1940s Procter illustrated four children's books written by Clare Collas: Four’s Company: a children's fantasy (London: Peter Davies, 1942), The Flying Village: an improbable story (London, 1943), The Blue-Coated Heron: an adventurous story (London: Peter Davies, 1944) and Penny for the Guy (London, 1945).

Procter visited Tenerife in 1938 and again, with her friend, the artist Jeanne du Maurier, in 1946. But in the 21st century, she was featured in several gallery exhibitions and her works are collected in British museums, including the Tate. Photographs of Procter are in the collection of National Portrait Gallery, London.

Memberships Procter was a member of, or affiliated with, the following organisations: African Head - Painting, Oil on board Ancilla with an Orange- Painting, Oil on canvas Anemones - 1936, Painting, Oil on canvas Aunt Lilla - 1946, Painting, Oil on canvas Autumn Flowers - Painting, Oil on canvas Blue (Painting of a young girl) -1938, Painting, Oil on canvas Boys and Coconuts - 1945, Painting, Oil on canvas Mornings - 1929, Painting, Oil on canvas, 30x60cm Early Morning, Newlyn - 1926, Painting, Oil on canvas Eileen Mayo - Painting, Oil on canvas Flowers on a chair - Painting, Oil on canvas Gabriel in St. Lucia - Painting, Oil on canvas A Girl Asleep - 1925. Painting, Oil on canvas Girl in Blue - 1925, Painting, Oil on canvas Girl With a Parrot - Painting, Oil on canvas Glass - 1935, Painting, Oil on canvas The Golden Girl - 1930, Painting, Oil on canvas The Innocent - Painting, Oil on canvas Jamaican Girl - 1960, Painting, Oil on canvas Kitchen at Myrtle Cottage - 1930, Painting, Oil on canvas Lilian - 1923, Painting, Oil on canvas, 52x42cm Little Sister - Painting, Oil on canvas Midge Bruford, The Model - Painting, Oil on canvas Nasturtiums - Painting, Oil on canvas The Orchard - 1934, Painting, Oil on canvas The Pearl Necklace - Painting, Oil on canvas The Quiet Hour - 1935, Painting, Oil on canvas Self Portrait - Painting, Oil on canvas Sketch of Burmese Children - Painting, Oil on canvas The Sunday Shirt -1957, Painting, Oil on canvas Tolcarne Inn - 1935, Painting, Oil on canvas Young Roman - c. 1938-29, Painting, Oil on canvas Winter Scene from the Artist’s House, Newlyn - Painting, Oil on canvas

Exhibitions

Her works were exhibited:

Birkenhead Williamson Art Gallery and Museum: Anemones Brighton Museum & Art Gallery): Early Morning (1927, oil on canvas, reduced version of 'Morning' at the Tate Gallery) Bristol Royal West of England Academy: Ancilla with an Orange (1956, oil on canvas), Flowers on a Chair Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives: Winter Scene from the Artist's House, Newlyn Burnley (Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museum): The Hall Table Hanley Potteries Museum & Art Gallery: Clara, Girl in White Hastings Jerwood Gallery: Lilian, Glass Hull Ferens Art Gallery: Young Roman (c. 1928-1929, oil on canvas) Leamington Spa (Mus & AG): An Innocent, or A New Day (oil on canvas) London Tate: Morning (1926); Kitchen at Myrtle Cottage (1930-1935); Orchard (1934) London Royal Academy of Arts (1946) Autumn Flowers (c. 1932-41), The Pearl Necklace, Jamaican Girl Melbourne National Gallery of Victoria: In a Strange Land (1919, oil on canvas) Newcastle-upon-Tyne Laing Art Gallery Girl in Blue Penzance Penlee House: Aunt Lilla (c. 1943), Gabriel in St Lucia, Self Portrait, Little Sister, "Tolcarne Inn" Plymouth City Council Museum and Art Gallery: African Head Sefton Atkinson Art Gallery and Library: Sketch of Burmese Children Sheffield Museums: Nasturtiums Southampton Southampton City Art Gallery: Black and White Swansea Glynn Vivian Art Gallery: Early Morning, Newlyn Walsall The New Art Gallery Walsall: Spring Flowers, The Quiet Hour Woking Ingram Collection of Modern British Art at The Lightbox: The Golden Girl