John Dronsfield (7 March 1900–12 July 1951) was an English artist known for his work in South Africa.

Life

Born in Oldham, Lancashire, Dronsfield studied briefly at the

Manchester School of Art Manchester School of Art on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road in Manchester, England, was established in 1838 as the Manchester School of Design. It is the second-oldest art school in the United Kingdom after the Royal College of Art which was founded ...

before enlisting with the Young Soldiers’ Battalion –

Cheshire Regiment The Cheshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Prince of Wales' Division. The 22nd Regiment of Foot was raised by the Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk in 1689 and was able to boast an independent existence ...

in 1918. He was discharged as physically unfit in 1919 and began working in stage design with

Sybil Thorndike Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson (24 October 18829 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969. Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her h ...

in London. He worked as an illustrator and advertisement designer in the 1930s, illustrating ''The Weekend-End Book'' (Nonesuch Press) in 1936. He emigrated to South Africa in 1939, continuing his career as a stage designer. In 1942, he published ''Non-Europeans Only'', a book of drawings of the

Cape Coloured Cape Coloureds () are a South African group of Coloured people who are from the Cape region in South Africa which consists of the Western Cape, Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape. Their ancestry comes from the interracial mixing between th ...

community. He held his first solo exhibition in Cape Town in 1939, followed by joining a South African exhibition at the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

in 1948 and the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

in 1951. He committed suicide in 1951, following his death, two memorial exhibitions were held in Cape Town in 1955 and 1967. In 1955, Oxford University Press published a collection of his verses and satires. Two portfolios of his graphic studies were also published under the title ''African Improvisations''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dronsfield, John 1900 births 1951 deaths Cheshire Regiment soldiers 20th-century English male artists English emigrants to South Africa English expatriates in South Africa People from Oldham Suicides in South Africa British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham