Portrait of Dorothy Hutton

F. Ernest Jackson ARA (1872 - 1945)

RA Collection: Art

A head and shoulders portrait of Dorothy Hutton (1889-1984), who was a student and friend of the artist F. Ernest Jackson.

In an article dedicated to Jackson in the February 1924 issue of Drawing and Design, G. M. Ellwood writes of this drawing:

'Modelling a strong face in pure pencil strokes, and getting hold of all the accidents of bone and flesh, is not by any means an ordinary drawing performance, but the work of a master.'

In F. Ernest Jackson and his School (2000), J. G. P. Delaney points out that although Jackson was never a very famous artist he was well known in the art world, particularly as a teacher. His drawings were singled out for particular praise by such artists as Augustus John, who described Jackson as 'a very fine draughtsman - indeed one of the best not only of his period, but of the whole of British art'. Similarly, Sir Gerald Kelly noted that after twenty years of teaching at the Royal Academy Schools, many of Jackson's pupils considered their teacher to be 'one of the greatest draughtsmen England ever had, and how right they were'.