Edith Brearey Dawson (née Robinson; 1862 – 4 March 1929) was an English artist, jeweller and member of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Biography

Edith Robinson was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, to Quaker parents. In the 1880s Robinson was working as an art teacher and earning extra money through selling watercolours, primarily depicting cottage gardens and flowers. In 1893 she married

Nelson Dawson Nelson Ethelred Dawson (5 May 1859 – 28 October 1941) was an English artist and member of the Arts and Crafts movement. Dawson was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire and educated at Stamford School. He moved to London, where he operated hi ...

in London. He was an architecturally trained painter and metalworker. The two had met in an art shop in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

, where Dawson was working as an assistant. In the early 1890s Nelson Dawson attended a series of lectures on

enamelling Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by melting, fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between . The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitrification, vitreous coating. The wo ...

given by Alexander Fisher. It is unclear whether he then taught Edith the skill or whether they attended the lectures together.Toni Lesser Wolf, "Women Jewelers of the British Arts and Crafts Movement", The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts, Vol 14 (Autumn 1989), p.33 The two subsequently collaborated on jewellery, with Edith Dawson creating the enamels and Nelson Dawson the metalwork. Edith Dawson was a perfectionist and her enamels are of exceptionally high quality, with a delicate, jewel-like appearance that is easily recognisable. Examples of the Dawsons' work can be found in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

and

the British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

. The couple moved to

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

where they set up a workshop. During the busiest years they employed up to twenty craftsmen. In 1900 they exhibited 125 pieces of jewellery at the Fine Art Society in Bond Street. However, by 1914 the couple were in financial difficulties and they reduced their metalwork output. They continued to create, and in 1917 exhibited several commemorative and

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

plaques at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

including one bearing the Arms of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

in bronze and

champlevé enamel Champlevé is an enamelling technique in the decorative arts, or an object made by that process, in which troughs or cells are carved, etched, die struck, or Casting (metalworking), cast into the surface of a metal object, and filled with vitreo ...

. In 1905 Edith Dawson published a small book entitled ''A Little Book on Art: Enamel''. During her career Dawson also exhibited works with both the New English Art Club and the

Royal Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Edith 1862 births 1929 deaths 19th-century English women artists 20th-century English women artists 19th-century enamellers 20th-century enamellers Artists from Croydon Arts and Crafts movement artists British jewellery designers English enamellers Women enamellers Women jewellers