Poppies
Born in Dublin to a Scottish father and an Irish mother, Dunlop moved with his family in early childhood to America, then to London and Manchester. He trained at Manchester Art School, where he also had his first experience of drawing from life. At the age of nineteen he moved to London and took up a post in advertising. He married in 1914 and, at the start of the Great War, worked upon the land and at various trades. After the war he decided to abandon commercial work and to develop his painting skills. Dunlop's approach to painting was very personal, and it is said that he strove to express his character through his painterly and exuberant work. This decorative painting of poppies reflects the artist's interest in the beauty of colour and shape, and the tactile quality of paint. In his early career, although his work was admired, Dunlop had few patrons. However, he enjoyed a period of remarkable success from 1928 to the 1930s, when he sold every picture shown in a series of exhibitions at London's Redfern Gallery. He became a prolific exhibitor, showing work all over Britain. He enjoyed particular success in Scotland, and was even one of six 'Scottish' painters whose work was shown at a prestigious Paris exhibition in 1931. He is also notable for having founded the Emotionist Group of artists and writers in 1923, and for his books 'Understanding Pictures' and 'Struggling with Paint', his autobiography of 1956.
