# Robert Arthur Dawson artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/robert-arthur-dawson/
Profile generated: 2026-08-24T13:26:20.559Z
Quality: medium confidence, adequate sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1874-07-13
- Death date: 1948-09-16
- Movements: Arts and Crafts context
- Common media: Painting, Decorative design, Craft work

## About Robert Arthur Dawson

Robert Arthur Dawson (1874–1948) was an English-born decorative designer, painter, craftsman and art teacher. Born in Bingley, Yorkshire, he studied at Saltaire School of Art and then the National Art School in London, later renamed the Royal College of Art, where he subsequently taught. In 1901 Dawson became principal of Belfast School of Art. He remained there until 1919, when he took charge of Manchester School of Art, retiring in 1939. He exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy, the Royal Academy in London and Liverpool's Walker Art Gallery. Dawson also participated in exhibitions of the Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland and served on its committee from 1910 to 1917. These activities place his career within the institutional and applied-art culture of the Arts and Crafts era. Collectors may encounter his name in connection with paintings, decorative design and craft work, although the collected market source currently provides no matched priced auction records.

## Common works and media

The available institutional biography identifies Dawson as a painter, decorative designer and craftsman. Paintings and objects associated with decorative or applied-art practice are therefore the best-supported work types for research. The source pack does not document a characteristic subject range, named series, print editions, sculpture practice or ceramic production, so those categories should not be assigned to him without object-specific evidence.

## Market and appraisal context

The collected Appraisily market page currently reports no matched or priced auction records for Robert Arthur Dawson, so it cannot support a reliable price range or recent-sales trend. Any appraisal should begin by establishing that the object is correctly attributed and then comparing it with works of a similar medium, size, date and subject. Condition, restoration, signatures, inscriptions, provenance and exhibition history can materially affect comparability. Dawson's long careers in Belfast and Manchester may also make institutional or regional documentation relevant. When public auction records become available, realized prices should be compared only with genuinely similar lots and interpreted consistently with respect to buyer's premiums and reported fees.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine researched artist identity with matched auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices and comparable lots when those records are available. For Robert Arthur Dawson, the present source pack provides useful institutional biography but no matched priced auction records, so market conclusions remain provisional.

## Sources

- Art UK: https://artuk.org/discover/artists/dawson-robert-arthur-18741948
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21452816
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/robert-arthur-dawson/