DOI issue:
No. 178 (December, 1911)
DOI article:Trask, John E. D.: Sarah Ball Dodson: an appreciation
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43448#0393
Sarah Ball Dodson
SARAH BALL DODSON:AN
APPRECIATION
BY JOHN E. D. TRASK
There was recently shown
in her native city, in the galleries of The
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,
a collection of nearly one hundred can-
vases from the brush of the late Sarah
Ball Dodson, which revealed the great
accomplishment of an artist whose work
is far less known in this country than it
ought to be.
Under the stress of modern conditions
it is only a happy combination of circum-
stances which brings to a painter during
his or her lifetime a just and adequate
appreciation of accomplished work. The
quick recurrence of exhibition after ex-
hibition; the steady press of new brushes
asking for attention, and the swift for-
getfulness of our time all combine to make
uncertain the judgment of our contem-
poraries, to make difficult, even, the
catching of the roving public eye.
The circumstances of Miss Dodson’s
BY SARAH BALL DODSON
MALVERN ABBEY
recog¬
art of a certain calm poise which is not the least of
its charm. Carrying through life, as she did, the
severe handicap of delicate health, which caused
life were such as to render impossible her
full participation, even had she cared for
it, in the contest for general immediate
nition. Her very absence from this competition,
however, served well in the development in her
A FARM ROAD: BUXTED
BY SARAH BALL DODSON
frequent interruptions
in her work, it is likely
that, although the full
measure of her accom-
plishment was never
reached, the character
of her accomplishment
was but little different
from what it could in
any circumstances
have become. Her
limitations were the
limitations of her tem-
perament. In her
painting there can be
heard no strident call
for recognition, but al-
ways the soft voice of
beauty makes lasting
appeal.
Miss Dodson was
the daughter of Rich-
ard Whatcoat Dod-
XXXVII
SARAH BALL DODSON:AN
APPRECIATION
BY JOHN E. D. TRASK
There was recently shown
in her native city, in the galleries of The
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,
a collection of nearly one hundred can-
vases from the brush of the late Sarah
Ball Dodson, which revealed the great
accomplishment of an artist whose work
is far less known in this country than it
ought to be.
Under the stress of modern conditions
it is only a happy combination of circum-
stances which brings to a painter during
his or her lifetime a just and adequate
appreciation of accomplished work. The
quick recurrence of exhibition after ex-
hibition; the steady press of new brushes
asking for attention, and the swift for-
getfulness of our time all combine to make
uncertain the judgment of our contem-
poraries, to make difficult, even, the
catching of the roving public eye.
The circumstances of Miss Dodson’s
BY SARAH BALL DODSON
MALVERN ABBEY
recog¬
art of a certain calm poise which is not the least of
its charm. Carrying through life, as she did, the
severe handicap of delicate health, which caused
life were such as to render impossible her
full participation, even had she cared for
it, in the contest for general immediate
nition. Her very absence from this competition,
however, served well in the development in her
A FARM ROAD: BUXTED
BY SARAH BALL DODSON
frequent interruptions
in her work, it is likely
that, although the full
measure of her accom-
plishment was never
reached, the character
of her accomplishment
was but little different
from what it could in
any circumstances
have become. Her
limitations were the
limitations of her tem-
perament. In her
painting there can be
heard no strident call
for recognition, but al-
ways the soft voice of
beauty makes lasting
appeal.
Miss Dodson was
the daughter of Rich-
ard Whatcoat Dod-
XXXVII