Born in Sydney, 1924, was raised in the Depression era. At age 5 Dickerson took up drawing, mostly aeroplanes and warships. At age 14 trained as a boxer to help pay for the day to day expenses as life in general was tough & money was hard to earn, later Dickerson joined the RAAF as a guard, sketching in his spare time.
When back in Australia age 30 Dickerson’s life had not improved, shoveling coal to feed he wife & 3 children, living in a caravan he continued to find time to paint, most of the time only on weekends.
But in the late 1950s his work began being noticed, starting when art patron John Reed speaking favorably in his book Ern Malley’s Journal (Vol 2) & continued when the National Gallery of Victoria purchased his work ‘Man Asleep On The Steps’.
At age 35 he turned professional when he won £100 pounds (£2,368 in 2018) in 1957 Women’s Weekly fridge decorating competition until now he had been using whatever materials he could afford, now after winning back then a small fortune was able to increase his abilities & buy more art materials.
In 1959 he joined Charles Blackman, David Boyd, John Brack, Bernard Smith, to form the Antipodeans opposing abstractionism of the time, he then remarried in the mid 1960s & despite his drinking problem continued to paint, he and his second wife split after 8 years.
In 2013 he was awarded an AO for his outstanding contribution to the visual arts and community service to the many charities he supported.
He later died age 91 in 2015.
Further Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Dickerson
https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/dickerson-robert/