Montague Dawson R.S.M.A., F.R.S.A., 1895-1973, BRITISH
RACING HOME, THE CHINA CLIPPERS CHRYSOLITE AND STORNOWAY ALMOST NECK-AND-NECK, "The RIVALS"/ The race of the Chrysolite
Oil on canvas
28 by 42 in., 71.1 by 106.8 cm
Private collection
While the majority of Montague Dawson’s works take place on the high seas, Racing Home is a rare composition with a shipboard perspective, focused on the men who propelled these ships around the world. Life on a clipper could be harsh and dangerous; even under a bright blue sky, the weight and surging power of the waves is tangible.
Racing Home, the China Clippers Chrysolite and Stornoway Almost Neck-and-Neck is a dramatic realization of the “tea race” conducted in 1852 between two clipper ships engaged in the Liverpool-China trade. These races pitted the most advanced ships from the docks of Aberdeen and Liverpool, built for speed as well as maximum capacity, with the best captains and crews. A speedy trip home from the far East granted bragging rights to the crew and would enable the owners of the ship to command higher freight fees, resulting in huge sums of money. Tea merchants would offer incentives for fast passages as well, adding a premium of £1 per ton of tea to the first ship to dock. The outcomes of these yearly races were intensely followed by the public, reported in the columns of newspapers throughout the United Kingdom, and many bets were placed on the outcome in London and throughout the ports of Britain. More on this painting
Montague Dawson RMSA, FRSA (1890–1973) was a British
painter who was renowned as a maritime artist. His most famous paintings depict
sailing ships, usually clippers or warships of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Montague was the son of a keen yachtsman and the grandson of the marine painter
Henry Dawson (1811–1878), born
in Chiswick, London. Much of his childhood was spent on Southampton Water where
he was able to indulge his interest in the study of ships. For a brief period
around 1910 Dawson worked for a commercial art studio in Bedford Row, London,
but with the outbreak of the First World War he joined the Royal Navy. Whilst
serving with the Navy in Falmouth he met Charles Napier Hemy (1841–1917), who considerably influenced his
work. In 1924 Dawson was the official artist for an Expedition to the South
Seas by the steam yacht St.George. During the expedition he provided
illustrated reports to the Graphic magazine.
After the
War, Dawson established himself as a professional marine artist, concentrating
on historical subjects and portraits of deep-water sailing ships. During the
Second World War, he was employed as a war artist. Dawson exhibited regularly
at the Royal Society of Marine Artists, of which he became a member, from 1946
to 1964, and occasionally at the Royal Academy between 1917 and 1936. By the
1930s he was considered one of the greatest living marine artists, whose
patrons included two American Presidents, Dwight D Eisenhower and Lyndon B
Johnson, as well as the British Royal Family. Also in the 1930s, he moved to
Milford-Upon-Sea in Hampshire, living there for many years. Dawson is noted for
the strict accuracy in the nautical detail of his paintings which often sell
for six figures.
The work of Montague Dawson is represented in
the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich and the Royal Naval Museum, Portsmouth. More on
Montague Dawson
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