Dora Gordine: Sculptor, Artist, Designer

Abstract

In 1938 Dora Gordine was hailed as 'possibly becoming the finest woman sculptor in the world.' For over thirty years she was widely perceived as a major presence in European sculpture; for her contribution to the inter-war art movement known as the rappel a l'ordre, as a prominent member of the Royal Society of British Sculptors and as a founder of the Society of Portrait Sculptors. In her heyday, from the late 1920's to the mid 1960's, she attracted the admiration and respect of prominent figures within the cultural world as diverse as the celebrated sculptor Aristide Maillol, modernist architects such as Auguste Perret and Charles Holden, curators such as Sir Kenneth Clark and Alfred Flechtheim and writers such as Freya Stark, Sir John Pope-Hennessy and Robert Byron.She was widely admired as a creator of psychologically acute portrait heads, idiosyncratically distinctive public memorials and sensuously stylish figure sculpture. She also merits attention for her highly individual sense of style evident in the studio-homes she had built for herself in Paris, Singapore and in London. The last of these homes, Dorich House on the edge of Richmond Park, is the most architecturally intriguing and was designed by Gordine herself - a feat virtually unheard of for a woman artist at the time of its construction in 1936.Gifted, charismatic, imperious and irrepressible, 'La Gordine' led a fascinating life travelling extensively in Europe, North America and in South-East Asia. An air of mystery has often been associated with the artist - who was readily prepared to foster uncertainly concerning her background and nationality.This book is the first to reveal the reality of her colourful life, containing a wealth of previously unpublished material, as well as providing a comprehensive assessment of her undoubted achievements as a talented and versatile sculptor and artist who, possessed a distinct flair for architectural and interior design. The book is richly illustrated with eighty superb colour plates and two hundred monochrome plates - the majority of which are published for the first time. It also incorporates the first catalogue raisonne of Gordine's impressive sculptural oeuvre.

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