Dorothy Mead

Who was Dorothy Mead?

Dorothy Mead was a British painter.

Mead was born in London, England, She first met David Bomberg when he was teaching at the Dagenham School of Art in 1944. She followed him when he moved to the City Literary Institute in London and then to the Borough Polytechnic where she studied under Bomberg from 1945 to 1951. Mead was a founder member of the Borough Group in 1946 together with other pupils of Bomberg including Cliff Holden.

From 1956 until 1959, Mead was a mature student at the Slade School of Art, following Bomberg's inspiration. Here she met artist and teacher Andrew Forge. She had a major influence on students such as Patrick Procktor and Mario Dubsky and was the first woman president of the student annual exhibiting society, Young Contemporaries, in 1959. In the same year she was required to leave the Slade, despite having won awards for her work, as a result of her having refused to sit the course on perspective, belieivng - with Bomberg - that the approach was invalid. A thesis by her explaining her view was not accepted by the principal, William Coldstream.