SOLD
Dorothy Hepworth:
Man with fez, circa 1925
Framed (ref: 5768)
Coloured chalks
approx 12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 23 cm)
Tags: Dorothy Hepworth chalk men Orientalism portraits
Hepworth mostly exhibited under the name of her lifelong companion and fellow painter Patricia Preece whom she met at the Slade in 1918. As a result, their work has frequently been confused. Preece (January 1894 – June 1966), became the second wife of Stanley Spencer, for whom she modelled, in 1937, but she did not leave Hepworth eventually evicting Spencer from his house but refused to divorce him. After he was knighted in 1959, she insisted on being styled Lady Spencer and claimed a pension as his widow.
Throughout their lives, the gregarious Preece exhibited and sold the shy Hepworth's paintings under her own name, causing the artist Augustus John to declare Preece one of the six greatest women artists in England. The Preece-Spencer relationship was dramatised in the 1996 Olivier Award-winning play Stanley.
We are grateful to Michael Dickens for his assistance.
