Private
Phyllis Dodd
(1899 - 1995)
Portrait of Tirzah Garwood, 1929
Private Collection
Phyllis Dodd (1899 - 1995)
Size:
Height – 38.2cm
Width – 27.5cm
Literature: Llewellyn, Sacha, and Paul Liss. Portrait of an Artist. Liss Llewellyn, 2021, p.206.
Phyllis Dodd was an accomplished portrait artist. Studying at the Liverpool School of Art from 1917–21, Dodd received a Royal Exhibition Scholarship and attended the Royal College of Art for four years – alongside Henry Moore (1898–1986), Raymond Coxon (1896–1997) and Edna Ginesi (1902–2000), with whom she would remain friends for the rest of her life – winning the Drawing Prize in her final year.
Pindi was the pet name for Dodds fellow student and friend Kathleen Bridle (1921-25). Dodd, Pindi and Norah McGuinness shared student accommodation in London.
Kathleen Bridle was born at Swalecliffe in Kent on 19 November 1897. Bridle enrolled at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art (DMSA) in 1915. She won a teacher-training scholarship in 1917 and in 1920 a scholarship to the Royal College of Art Whilst there she became good friends with John Hunter, who gave her the nickname “Pindi”, a name she kept for life.During this time she also became friends with the sculptor Henry Moore. She won the George Clausen prize at the RCA for her 1924 portrait of Norah McGuinness.
Bridle was employed briefly as a glass painter in the Dublin studio of Harry Clarke. Bridle was one of the founders of the Ulster Unit in 1934, and was featured in their inaugural exhibition. She was a regular exhibitor with the Ulster Academy of Arts from 1931 to 1949, being elected an associate in 1935 and an honorary member in 1962. In 1936 she held an exhibition at John Magee’s gallery in Belfast. In 1947, Bridle’s second major exhibition was held at the CEMA gallery, Belfast
A major retrospective of her work was held at the Fermanagh County Museum in 1998, which was toured to the Ulster Museum and the Armagh County Museum. Primarily Bridle was a watercolourist and landscape painter, but she also painted portraits in oils. Her 1948 self-portrait is held in the National Self-Portrait Collection of Ireland.
We are grateful to Carole Froude-Durix and Rosalind Bliss for assistance.
Phyllis Dodd achieved considerable success from early on in
her prolific career. Studying at the Liverpool School of Art from
1917’21, she received a Royal Exhibition Scholarship and
attended the Royal College of Art for four years ‘ alongside Henry
Moore (1898’1986), Raymond Coxon (1896’1997) and Edna
Ginesi (1902’2000), with whom she would remain friends for the
rest of her life ‘ winning the Drawing Prize in her final year.
From 1925 to 1930 she taught part-time at Walthamstow
Technical College. In 1928, she married the artist Douglas
Percy Bliss (1900’1984) and they worked alongside each other,
exhibiting together at Derby Art Gallery in 1947. She also
exhibited at the NEAC, the RA, the RP, the Walker Art Gallery
and the RSA, and in 1989 the Hatton Gallery at Newcastle
University held a large retrospective exhibition to celebrate her
ninetieth birthday.
