Conrad Gustave d'Huc Dressler
Other names: J. Conrad Dressler
Born 20 May 1856
Died 3 August 1940
Active: 1883 - 1920
Country of birth: England
Country of death: France
Sculptor, potter, art worker, industrial designer, inventor
Born in Streatham, Surrey (London). His parents, (Jean Pierre) Gustavus Dressler (a general merchant born c.1817 in Frankfurt, Germany) and Philippine Henrietta Suzanne d'Huc de Monsegou (born in Marseille, France in 1831) were naturalized British citizens. Gustavus died in 1863 when Conrad was seven years old leaving effects valued at around £30,000. Conrad had three sisters Alice (Mimi) (c.1853-1938), Ada (1860-c.1951) and Clotilde (1862-c.1957) all of whom may have studied art. Ada was a painter and sculptor.
Conrad studied at the Royal College of Art under Edouard Lanteri, Joseph Edgar Boehm and in France. In 1886 he stayed with Ruskin at Coniston. Dressler set up a foundry in Chelsea and carried out cire-perdue casting and met William De Morgan, who fired some of his early works. He co-founded the della Robbia Pottery in Birkenhead with Harold Rathbone and worked there c.1893–7. Dressler then moved to Marlow Common, Buckinghamshire, where he established the Medmenham Pottery specializing in architectural tiles and large wall panels, created from small sections. The business was financed by Robert William Hudson until 1906 when it changed into the Dressler Tunnel Ovens Ltd, the Medmenham tile designs continued to be made by J. H. Barratt of Stoke-on-Trent. Dressler was the inventor of a tunnel kiln known as the 'Dressler oven'.
After 1920 he went to live in Paris and then the United States. He returned from America in 1929 on the death of his first wife, Nita and settled in France. Dressler died at Saint-Brévin l'Océan, Loire-Inférieure, France.
Includes information from Robert Prescott-Walker
Wealth at death: £2,500 7s. 2d.
Probate date: 1 September 1941
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
La Prière. To the Memory of Mrs B. D. Hutchison
Plaster models of panels for stove
Carved Tabernacle door in copper: silvered and parcel gilt
Designed The presentation of our Lady in the Temple
Modelled The presentation of our Lady in the Temple
Carved The presentation of our Lady in the Temple
Designed Headstone panel
Modelled Tabernacle door in copper: silvered and parcel gilt
1889 (Presumed)
Little Sunshine
1892 (Presumed)
£21
Lassie
1892 (Presumed)
£7 10s.
Head
1895
Enamelled Sculpture, Woman bearing bundle of sticks
1899 (Presumed)
Little Child
1900 (Presumed)
Bust of John Ruskin
1901
P. H. Miller, ARHA
1907
Locations
Address 41 Glebe Place Chelsea London SW England | View on map
1892 (Presumed)
Address Cedar House 45 Glebe Place London England | View on map
1883 (Presumed) - 1893 (Presumed)
Mother also living at this address in 1891, gave Cedar Studios as his address in 1907 [see 'Royal Academy Exhibitors 1905-70', p. 188]
Address 40 Glebe Place Chelsea London England | View on map
1890 (Circa)
Address 34 Hamilton Square Birkenhead England | View on map
1894 (Presumed) - 1896
Address 3A Hamilton Square Birkenhead England | View on map
1895
Address The Limes Great Marlow England | View on map
1897 - 1899
Address White Cottage Great Marlow England | View on map
1899 - 1918 (Presumed)
Gave Hans Studios, Glebe Place, Chelsea as his address in 1906 and Cedar Studios, Glebe Place, Chelsea in 1907 [see 'Royal Academy Exhibitors 1905-70' p. 188]
Studio located at Oakley Cottage Studio Chelsea London England | View on map
1883 (Circa) - 1884 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Second Exhibition of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers (London), 1899
Multiple works
Exhibited at Seventh Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers (London), 1907
Multiple works
Exhibited at Exhibition of Fair Women (International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, London), 1908
'Miss Blanche Thomas'
Exhibited at Eighth Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers (London), 1908
'Laughing Faun'
Exhibited at The Summer Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers (Twenty-third London Exhibition), 1918
'La Prière. To the Memory of Mrs. B. D. Hutchison'
Exhibited at Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: First Exhibition, 1888
Multiple works
Exhibited at Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Second Exhibition, 1889
'Boy and Swan'
Exhibited at Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 1907
'P. H. Miller, ARHA'
Exhibited at The Thirty-Fifth Spring Exhibition at the Rooms of the Society, New Street (Royal Birmingham Society of Artists), 1900
'Little Child'
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, Arts & Crafts Exhibition, 1900
'Bust'
Exhibited at Leeds City Art Gallery, Arts & Crafts Exhibition, 1904
Multiple works
Exhibited at Corporation of Manchester Art Gallery, Eighteenth Autumn Exhibition, 1900
Multiple works
Exhibited at Corporation of Manchester Art Gallery, Seventeenth Autumn Exhibition, 1899
'A Welsh Muse'
Exhibited at Laing Art Gallery, Exhibition of Decorative Art for Churches, Etc., by Members of the Clergy and Artists' Association, 1905
Multiple works
Exhibited at Thirty-Fourth Exhibition of Works of Modern Artists, The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1895
'Head'
Exhibited at Art Workers Guild, Third Exhibition, 1905
Exhibited at The Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland Second Exhibition, 1899
1899
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1883 - 1907
Exhibited 13 times (11 times up to 1899), an average of two works per year, all portrait busts and medallions apart from 'The Four Winds', a sundial shown in 1899.
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of pictures, in oil and water-colours: the nineteenth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1889
1889
Head (cat. no. 1491, not for sale); The Rt Hon. Sir John Mowbray, Bart. MP (cat. no. 1498, not for sale); Edward Augustus Bond, Esq., CB, LLD, FSA (cat. no. 1499, not for sale); William Morris, Esq. (cat. no. 1501, not for sale); Rev. H. R. Haweis (cat. no. 1506, not for sale); Walter Gilbey, Esq. (cat. no. 1508, not for sale); Professor John Ruskin (cat. no. 1511, plaster bust, not for sale); The Ven. Archdeacon Farrar, DD (cat. no. 1513, not for sale); J. A. Froude, Esq. (cat. no. 1517, bust, not for sale); Ford Madox Brown, Esq. (cat. no. 1512, not for sale); A Dancer (cat. no. 1526, plaster, £73 10s., bronze, £105); John L. Toole, Esq. (cat. no. 1530, not for sale); Ernest Hart, Esq. (cat. no. 1534, not for sale); George Henry Pinckard, Esq. (cat. no. 1537, not for sale); George Grossmith, Esq. (cat. no. 1539, not for sale); The late Lord Iddesleigh (cat. no. 1540, bronze medallion, not for sale); Algernon Charles Swinburne, Esq. (cat. no. 1541, not for sale); Lord Halsbury, Lord Chancellor of England (cat. no. 1542, not for sale); General Sir Frederick Roberts (cat. no. 1545, bronze medallion, not for sale); Prof. W. H. Fowler, CB, LLD, FRS, FRCS, FLS (cat. no. 1548, not for sale); The late Lord Egerton of Tatton (cat. no. 1549, not for sale); The late Col. Duncan, CB, MP (cat. no. 1552, not for sale); Henry M. Stanley, Esq. (cat. no. 1554, not for sale).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of pictures, in oil and water-colours: the twentieth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1890
1890
Pan the Piper (cat. no. 1306, statuette, £52 10s.).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-first (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1891
1891
The Baby (cat. no. 1252, bronze, cast by the artist, £21); Our Bessie (cat. no. 1253, bronze, cast by the artist, £31).
Exhibited at Exhibition of the Bristol Academy, Works of Modern Artists, The Forty-Seventh, 1892
1892
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-second (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1892
1892
Medallion, 'The infant muling and puking the nurse's arms', Seven Ages of Man (cat. no. 1360, sketch p. 111, not for sale); The Crucifixion (cat. no. 1379, relief in plaster, not for sale); Decoration for a courtyard - 'The Seven Ages of Man' (cat. no. 1384, not for sale).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-third (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1893
1893
Cressida (cat. no. 1190, terracotta hand in coloured clays, £8 8s.); Boy and Lantern (cat. no. 1193, Della Robbia ware, £15 15s.); St John - after Donatello (cat. no. 1194, Della Robbia ware, not for sale); Baby Head (cat. no. 1213, Della Robbia ware, £10 10s.); Portrait Bust (cat. no. 1214, Della Robbia ware, not for sale); Head of a Girl (cat. no. 1215, Della Robbia ware, not for sale); Pan the Piper (cat. no. 1218, £5 5s.); Master Percy Spielmann (cat. no. 1217, low relief, Della Robbia ware, not for sale); Pan the Piper (cat. no. 1218, Della Robbia ware, white glaze, £4 4s.); 'The Infant Muling and Puking in the Nurse's Arms' (cat. no. 1360, illustrated on p. 111).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-fourth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1894
1894
Maternity (cat. no. 1323, original terracotta group for a Della Robbia Fountain, £42); Pouts (cat. no. 1338, original terracotta study, £8 8s.); Miss Elfrida Rathbone (cat. no. 1349, plaster model for a Della Robbia plaque, not for sale).
Exhibited at Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-fifth (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool), 1895
1895
Mrs Water Raleigh (cat. no. 1251, not for sale); Sir John D'Urberville, an ancestor of Tess (cat. no. 1254, bust, £78 15s.); Portion of Plaster (cat. no. 1276, Della Robbia ware, not for sale); E. Landseer Grundy, Esq. (cat. no. 1286, Della Robbia ware, not for sale); Study of a Baby's Head (cat. no. 1301, £8 8s.); Inglenook Arch (cat. no. 1322A, Della Robbia ware, £75); Maternity (cat. no. 1322B, portion of fountain, Della Robbia ware, £100); Tradition Raising Youth (cat. no. 1322C, sign, Della Robbia ware, not for sale); Four Panels of Boys (cat. no. 1322D-G, £1 11s. 6d.); Reproduction of Renaissance Madonna (cat. no. 1322H, Della Robbia ware, £1 1s.); Reproduction of Antique Panel (cat. no. 1322I, Della Robbia ware, £0 10s. 6d.); Presentation (cat. no. 1322J, fragment, Della Robbia ware, £1 1s.); Cherub's Head (cat. no. 1322 K, £1 1s.); Sower (cat. no. 1322L, sketch for panel, Della Robbia ware, not for sale); Harvest-time (cat. no. 1322M, sketch panel, Della Robbia ware, not for sale); Tethys (cat. no. 1322N, panel, Della Robbia ware, £5 5s.), Boy and Lanthorn (cat. no. 1322O, Della Robbia ware, £10 10s.).
Exhibited at International Exhibition, Glasgow, 1901
1901
Exhibited at International Exhibition, Dublin, 1907
1907
British Sculpture, Gallery II: 'Fearless' (terracotta), p. 25 (189). Lent by the sculptor.
Speaker at Majolica, Faience and Delft (Art Workers Guild), 1899
Speaker at The Principles Governing Relief in Sculpture (Art Workers Guild), 1909
Speaker at Modelled Work in Glazed Earthenware (Art Workers Guild), 1911
Speaker at The Influence of Mathematics on Sculpture (Art Workers Guild), 1912
Speaker at The Tools and Technique of the Greek Sculptors (Art Workers Guild), 1936
Institutional and Business Connections
Associate of Della Robbia Pottery and Marble Co. Ltd.
Donor to Art Workers Guild
1893
Gave a bust he had made of William Morris
Member of Clergy and Artists' Association
Member of The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society
1889 (Presumed) - 1920 (Presumed)
Member of Art Workers Guild
1891 - 1918
Resigned in 1918.
Member of Chelsea Arts Club
1891
Founder member of the Chelsea Arts Club
Member of Royal Society of British Sculptors
1905 - 1920
Worked with Schaub and Son
On 'Tabernacle door [...]' in 1889 ACES exhibition.
Personal and Professional Connections
Brother/sibling of Ada Dressler
Collaborated with Enrico Cantoni
Collaborated with Edmund Kirby
On 'Tabernacle door [...]' in 1889 ACES exhibition.
Collaborated with Thomas Stirling Lee
1898 - 1901
On the 'National Prosperity' reliefs for St George's Hall, Liverpool. Lee was supervisor for the project and set the overall theme. Dressler created two of the six panels.
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1890 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1890
p.1997
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
'Sculptor'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
'Sculptor and Potter'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
'Sculptor'
Sources
A Catalogue of the Pictures, Drawings, Prints and Sculptures at the Seventh Exhibition of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers
1907
p.17, p.32, p.34, p.36.
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1885-1900
1893, p.5; 1895, p.19; 1899, p.6.
Art Workers Guild Annual Reports, 1901-1912
p.10; 1909, p.5; 1911, p.7; 1912, p.5.
Artists and Bohemians: 100 Years with the Chelsea Arts Club
1992
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: List of Members, 1894
1894
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: List of Members, 1897
1897
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: List of Members, 1904
1904
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: List of Members, 1907
1907
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Papers relating to the founding of the Society
1888 (Circa)
'National Exhibition of the Arts'. Listed as one of 20 sculptors invited to be part of selection and hanging committee.
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society: Rules and List of Members, 1920
1920
p.4.
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. List of Members, 1898
1898
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. List of Members, 1899
1899
Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society. List of Members, 1900
1900
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the First Exhibition.
1888
p.138, pp.140-141, p.146.
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the First Exhibition.
1888
p.138, pp.140-141, p.147.
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Second Exhibition.
1889
p.148, p.191, p.263.
Arts and Crafts Society: Catalogue of the Sixth Exhibition.
1899
p.124.
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-fifth, 1895 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1895
pp. 47-50.
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-fourth, 1894 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1894
pp. 49-52.
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-second, 1892 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1892
pp. 48-9
Autumn exhibition of modern pictures in oil and water-colours: the twenty-third, 1893 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1893
pp. 42-45.
Autumn exhibition of pictures, in oil and water-colours: the twentieth, 1890 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
1890
pp. 46-48.
Catalogue of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition 1900
1900
Case P, Cat. No. 83, pp. 36, 75
Catalogue of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition 1904
1904
Cat. No. 434, pp. 26, 127
Catalogue of the Eighteenth Autumn Exhibition, 1900
1900
Cat. No. 246, pp. 44, 49
Catalogue of the Exhibition of Decorative Art for Churches, Etc., by Members of the Clergy and Artists' Association, October 1905
October 1905
Cat. Nos. 74-80, p. 16
Catalogue of the Seventeenth Autumn Exhibition, 1899
1899
Cat. No. 252, pp. 43, 252
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
2005
Class: RG9; Piece: 375; Folio: 130; Page: 2; GSU roll: 542626
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1891
2004
RG12 piece 64 folio 74 page 10
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901
2005
Class: RG13; Piece: 1351; Folio: 6; Page: 4
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911
2011
RG14PN7890 RG78PN394 RD145 SD2 ED4 SN29
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
2006
Name: Conrad Gustave D'Hue Dressler
Year of Registration: 1856
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Wandsworth
County: Greater London, London, Surrey
Volume: 1d
Page: 402
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Conrad D'hue Dressler
Probate Date: 1 Sep 1941
Death Date: 3 Aug 1940
Death Place: Paris, France
Registry: Llandudno
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Gustav Dressler
Probate Date: 11 Jan 1864
Death Date: 19 Dec 1863
Death Place: London, England
Registry: Principal Registry
International Exhibition Glasgow, 1901,
Official Catalogue of the Fine Art Section
1901
International Exhibition, Dublin 1907, Fine Art Catalogue
1907
British Sculpture, Gallery II
p. 25, no. 189:'Fearless'. Terra Cotta.
Lent by the Sculptor.
List of Members: Royal Society of British Sculptors
2008
Post Office London Directory, 1890 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1890
p.1997
Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, Catalogue of the Seventy-Eighth Annual Exhibition, 1907 RHA Annual Exhibition Catalogue
1907
p. 30, no. 385.
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
8 November 1908.
The Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland Catalogue of the Second Exhibition, 1899
1899
p. 89
The fifty-third annual report of the committee of the Art-Workers' Guild, 1937
1937
p.13.
Citing this record
'Conrad Gustave d\'Huc Dressler', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1203107640, accessed 29 Sep 2023]
