Montague Dawson was the grandson of the landscape painter Henry Dawson. He studied under the celebrated seascape artist Charles Napier Hemy at the Royal Academy and also worked in an art school in Bedford Row. Dawson joined the navy during World War I and painted naval battles for a magazine. After the war he exhibited at the Royal Academy. He was an associate of the Royal Society of Art and a member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. He was appointed as an official war artist during World War II.

Dawson is considered to be among Britain’s most important seascape painters of the 20th century. In his case this refers mainly to paintings of ships. He displayed a preference for the obvious elegance of sailing vessels, the clippers of former years, and the reconstruction of old naval battles, particularly between American vessels and their various enemies. He also painted cruise liners and modern warships. Dawson specialised in ‘portraits’ of boats and painted the royal yacht Bluebottle as well as those used by President Eisenhower and President Johnson.

Museum and Gallery Holdings

Greenock (McLean Mus. and AG): A Solent Class (gouache on paper)
Newcastle upon Tyne (Laing AG): The Young Australian (oil on canvas)
Southampton (City AG): H.M.S. Collingwood (oil on canvas); The Forecastle Head (oil on canvas)