English School Mid 1900-1999 Oil Painting Staffordshire Bull Terrier Dog

Staffordshire Bull Terrier: Champion “Fearless Red of Bandits” by Dorothy Alexandra Johnson (1902-1988) unsigned oil painting on canvas, unstretched – affixed to stiff backing card 5.5 x 7.5 inches (backing card 8.25 x 10 inches) Delightful painting by the highly regarded English dog artist Dorothy Alexandra Johnson. It depicts “Fearless Red of Bandits”, a champion Staffordshire Bull Terrier born in 1944. This one is unsigned but is inscribed lower left. This work forms part of a collection we currently hold by Dorothy Johnson. It is small but beautifully executed. On unstretched stiff canvas, it has been neatly backing card-mounted in more recent years. The 1950’s date we have attributed to this is based on the canvas being a different type to some earlier work we had in the collection, and knowing she did paint some champions after their passing. Dorothy Alexandra Johnson was born in 1902 in Nottingham, England, and remained there her whole life. Attending the Nottingham School of Art and having studied under Arthur Spooner, a respected animal artist, it is no surprise that her work from the 1930’s focused entirely on art relating to dogs, recording images of many significant canine breed champions. condition report: Very clean, good clear strong colour, this has been stored for many years, never on display. No creases or paint loss.