Dora Carrington: The Tragic Muse of Bloomsbury

Fascinating as much for her life as her art, Carrington (as she preferred to be known) eventually formed one corner of a typically Bloomsbury triangular relationship. She was born in 1893 and studied at the Slade School of Art where she joined an extraordinary generation of modern British artists. Her art showed promise at a time when it was unusual for a woman to succeed as a professional artist. Carrington had a long (and improbable) relationship with the biographer Lytton Strachey and later married Ralph Partridge. These complexities played a part in her death at the age of only 38.  An exhibition of her work is planned at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester later this year. Alan will explore both her unconventional life and her art.

**************

​

Alan Read has a masters and first-class honours degree in History of Art from Birkbeck College, University of London. He is a gallery guide at Tate Britain and regularly lectures at both London Tates. For twenty years he was a gallery guide and lecturer at the National Portrait Gallery and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. He also works as a London Blue Badge Guide and has given us several excellent talks.