Dorothy Josephine Coke (11 April 1897 – 1979) was an English artist notable for her work as a war artist on the British home front during the Second World War. Coke was also an art teacher and as an artist was known for her watercolours, which have a very free, open-air quality to them.

Life and work

WAAF Instrument Mechanics at Work (1941) (ArtIWM

Coke was born in

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

in Essex in 1897, where her father was a tea exporter. When she was seventeen, Coke entered the

Slade School of Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

, where she continued to study throughout the First World War and where she won a prize for figure composition. In the summer of 1918 Coke submitted some sketches to the

British War Memorials Committee The British War Memorials Committee was a British Government body that throughout 1918 was responsible for the commissioning of artworks to create a memorial to the First World War. The Committee was formed in February 1918 when the Department of In ...

for a possible commission. That proposal was rejected but shortly afterwards

Muirhead Bone Sir Muirhead Bone (23 March 1876 – 21 October 1953) was a Scottish etcher and watercolourist who became known for his depiction of industrial and architectural subjects and his work as a war artist in both the First and Second World Wars. A ...

bought two of her watercolours for the Imperial War Museum collection. In 1919 she was elected a member of the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

. By the start of World War Two Coke was a popular and well known artist. During the War she received a short-term commission from the War Artists Advisory Committee to depict the work being performed by women in various services. To this end she spent time with the

Women's Voluntary Service The Royal Voluntary Service (known as the Women's Voluntary Services (WVS) from 1938 to 1966; Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) from 1966 to 2004 and WRVS from 2004 to 2013) is a voluntary organisation concerned with helping people in need ...

, the

Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...

, the

Women's Auxiliary Air Force The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...

and also with the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

. One of her paintings was included in the ''Britain at War'' exhibition at the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York which opened in May 1941. By the end of the War, WAAC had acquired eight paintings from Coke. During the War, in 1943, she was elected a member of the

Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wa ...

, having previously become an Associate member in 1935. After the War, Coke taught art at Brighton College of Art until her retirement in 1967.

References

External links

*
Works in the IWM collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coke, Dorothy 1897 births 1979 deaths 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art British war artists British women in World War II English watercolourists English women painters People from Southend-on-Sea Women watercolorists World War II artists