Dorothy Hepworth and Patricia Preece: An Untold Story

Fascinating exhibition at Charleston in Lewes looking at the collaborative art of Dorothy Hepworth and Patricia Preece.

I have known this story for a while plus I own some drawings by them. Hepworth and Preece were a couple and artists in the early 20th century. Hepworth was the better artist but Preece was the more outgoing character so the former produced work under the latter’s name and Preece promoted it. They fooled a number of art establishment figures including the Bloomsbury Group who helped to promote the work.

Preece is also known for being a muse and later wife of the artist Stanley Spencer although she continued to live with Hepworth.

The show was beautifully narrated and wove together paintings and archive material well. Most intriguing was that Preece photographed Hepworth with all her finished works obviously intending the story to be known at some point.

I loved the still-lives in the show often documenting their house in Cookham but was less impressed by the portraits. I would be fascinated to know though whether the women and Spencer used the same models as they were all villagers from Cookham where they all lived.

Closed 8 September 2024


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