Phyllis Dodd

Phyllis Dodd (10 November 1899 – 17 May 1995) was a British portrait painter; her husband was the artist and art teacher Douglas Bliss.

Early life Dodd was born in Chester in 1899, the daughter of Charles and Harriet Dodd. An early interest in art was encouraged by her parents. In her last year at The Queen's School she gained a full certificate of the Royal Drawing Society.

Art education Dodd's mother took in paying guests in order to be able to send her to Liverpool School of Art from 1917 to 1921, where she was taught by the influential art teacher William Penn.

Career Sir William Rothenstein was the principal throughout Dodd's time at the Royal College of Art, and she obtained portrait commissions through him. and at St Michael's Gallery in Derby in 1983. She also exhibited at the NEAC, the Royal Academy, the RP, the Walker Art Gallery, and the RSA. and Newport Museum & Art Gallery.

Selection of work There are works by Dodd held in the collections of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, Christ's College, Cambridge, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, and the Glasgow School of Art.

In 2014, Nicola Sturgeon chose a drawing by Dodd for her Christmas card as First Minister.

A portrait by Dodd of Tirzah Garwood was exhibited in the latter's retrospective at Dulwich Picture Gallery in 2025.

Personal life Dodd married the Scottish artist Douglas Bliss in 1928 at Chester Cathedral. They had two daughters, Prudence and Rosalind. Prudence became an art historian, and Rosalind an artist.

Dodd and Bliss are buried together in the churchyard at All Saints' Church, Turnditch, Derbyshire; Dodd had designed and made an altar frontal for the church.