Dora Carrington Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Dora Carrington Art Value Price Guide

Jan. 15, 2025
DORA CARRINGTON (BRITISH 1893–1932)
Est: £500 - £700
DORA CARRINGTON (BRITISH 1893–1932) STANDING NUDE (POSSIBLE PORTRAIT OF HENRIETTA BINGHAM), c. 1925 pen & ink on paper 50cm x 25cm (19 ¾in x 9 ¾in) The Artist's family;with Anthony D'Offay Gallery, London;Miss A Harkness (by 1984);Bonham's, London, 2 February 1989, lot 84;Sandra Lummis Fine Art, London, from whom acquired by Bernard Kelly.
Lyon & Turnbull
Mar. 21, 2024
DORA CARRINGTON (1892-1932) Cabbages pencil, watercolour and gouache on pap
Est: £3,000 - £5,000
DORA CARRINGTON (1892-1932) Cabbages pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper 14 x 21 in. (35.5 x 53.5 cm.)
Christie's
Jul. 12, 2023
Dora Carrington (British, 1893-1932) Teddy Carrington at the Violin, A Study of the Artist's Family (Executed circa 1910-1913)
Est: £800 - £1,200
Dora Carrington (British, 1893-1932) Teddy Carrington at the Violin, A Study of the Artist's Family pencil on paper 26.5 x 29.5cm (10 7/16 x 11 5/8in). Executed circa 1910-1913
Bonhams
Oct. 20, 2022
DORA CARRINGTON (1893-1932) The Cedar Tree at Tidmarsh DORA CARRINGTON (1893-1932) /The Cedar Tree a
Est: £6,000 - £8,000
DORA CARRINGTON (1893-1932) The Cedar Tree at Tidmarsh DORA CARRINGTON (1893-1932) /The Cedar Tree at Tidmarsh/ oil on canvas 27 x 22 in. (68.5 x 55.9 cm.) Painted /circa /1920.
Christie's
Nov. 30, 2021
DORA CARRINGTON (1893-1932)
Est: £600 - £800
DORA CARRINGTON (1893-1932) DORA CARRINGTON (1893-1932) At a communion signed Dora (lower right) pen, ink and coloured ink 28 x 32.5 cm (11 x 12 2/3 in) PROVENANCE: with Abbot and Holder, London
Chiswick Auctions
Sep. 29, 2021
Dora Carrington (British, 1893-1932) A Dance by the Sea 21 x 16.1 cm. (8 1/4 x 10 1/4 in.) (Executed circa 1920s)
Est: £18,000 - £25,000
Dora Carrington (British, 1893-1932) A Dance by the Sea mixed media and foil collage on glass 21 x 16.1 cm. (8 1/4 x 10 1/4 in.) Executed circa 1920s For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Bonhams
Sep. 29, 2021
Dora Carrington (British, 1893-1932) Wuthering Heights, Interior 21.6 x 25.5 cm. (8 1/2 x 10 1/8 in.) (sheet); 21 x 19.8 cm. (8 1/4 x 7 3/4 in.) (image) (Executed circa 1919)
Est: £1,000 - £1,500
Dora Carrington (British, 1893-1932) Wuthering Heights, Interior inscribed 'Wuthering/Heights.' (lower left) pen and ink and wash 21.6 x 25.5 cm. (8 1/2 x 10 1/8 in.) (sheet); 21 x 19.8 cm. (8 1/4 x 7 3/4 in.) (image) Executed circa 1919 For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website
Bonhams
Oct. 11, 2020
ATTR TO Dora Carrington (UK,1893-1932) oil painting antique
Est: $1,450 - $1,600
ARTIST: ATTRIBUTED TO Dora de Houghton Carrington (British, 1893 - 1932) NAME: Abstract Composition MEDIUM: oil on board CONDITION: Very good. No visible inpaint under UV light. SIGHT SIZE: 24 x 30 inches / 60 x 76 cm FRAME SIZE: 29 x 35 inches / 73 x 88 cm SIGNATURE: lower right SIMILAR ARTISTS: Kenneth Armitage, Joe Tilson, Laurence Stephen Lowry, Wilhelmina Willie Barns-Graham, Sir Terry Frost, Lynn Russell Chadwick, Keith Vaughan, Gillian Ayres, Sir William Nicholson, Austin Osman Spare, William Scott, Paul Nash, Sandra Blow, Gwen John, Carel Victor Marlais Weight, Roger Hildesheim Hilton CATEGORY: antique vintage painting SKU#: 116585 US Shipping $120 + insurance. BIOGRAPHY: English woman, Dora de Houghton Carrington was an artist and a Bloomsbury bohemian who loved and was loved by both men and women. She even managed to make her name interesting. She was born Dora de Houghton Carrington but was known in Bloomsbury only by her surname. She was the fourth of five children born to Samuel Carrington and Charlotte Houghton, and in 1902 the family moved to Bedford, England where she attended a girls' high school, which emphasized sports, music, and drawing. The teachers encouraged her drawing and her parents paid for her to attend extra drawing classes in the afternoons. In 1910 she won a scholarship to the Slade School of Art in London and studied there with Henry Tonks. The Slade at that time was a centre of what we would now call radical chic. She started a new fashion at the school by cutting her hair into a kind of pudding-bowl cut. She did well at the Slade, winning several prizes and moving quickly through the courses. When Carrington was eighteen she met Mark Gertler (1897-1939), who was a very strong influence on this first phase of her life as an artist. He introduced her to the society hostess Lady Ottoline Morrell, and thus into the Bloomsbury group. Carrington acquitted herself well at the Slade, winning several prizes and moving quickly through the courses. She left school in 1914 and returned to her parents' home to decide on her next step. She enjoyed being in the country but felt stifled by the lack of intellectual stimulation in general and her mother in particular. Gertler introduced her to Lady Ottoline Morrell, and thus into the Bloomsbury group of artists and writers. It was while visiting Morrell at Garsington Manor in 1915 that Carrington was introduced to Lytton Strachey, a writer and confirmed homosexual. Gertler, feeling that Strachey could act as a safe go-between for himself, encouraged their friendship. To his dismay, Carrington fell inexplicably and deeply in love with Strachey, a love that would last for the rest of her life and cause her to follow him from life into death. In 1917 Carrington's relationship with Gertler ended and when Strachey rented Mill House, Tidmarsh, she moved in with him. Carrington met Ralph Partridge, an Oxford friend of her younger brother Noel, in 1918. Partridge fell in love with Carrington and, accepting that she was still in love with Strachey and would not give up her platonic relationship or living arrangements with him, married her in 1921. In 1924 he and Strachey purchased the lease to Ham Spray House, near Hungerford, and all three lived out their lives there. Over the next eight years Carrington divided her time between domestic chores, caring for Strachey whose health was erratic, and her art work. She painted on almost any medium she could find including glass, tiles, pub signs, and the walls of friends' homes; she also made woodcuts for Hogarth Press and did some leather work. She had two well-known affairs, one with Gerald Brenan, an army friend of Partridge's, and the other with a sailor, Beakus Penrose. In 1926 Partridge formed an attachment to Frances Marshall, ending his marriage with Carrington in spirit, if not in law, but maintained his role of manager for Ham Spray House, visiting most weekends. In November 1931 Strachey became suddenly and violently ill. Doctors fluctuated between diagnoses of typhoid fever and ulcerative colitis, but his condition--stomach cancer--was not accurately diagnosed until an autopsy was performed. Round the clock nurses were hired and various treatments were tried. In late December he took a turn for the worse and on December 20 Carrington attempted suicide by shutting herself in the garage with the car running. Partridge rescued her and she recovered enough to spend the last few days of Strachey's life taking her turn watching over him. On January 21, 1932, Strachey died. The greatest concern of their friends now became preventing Carrington from killing herself; arrangements were made to keep her occupied and attended. In March Carrington was planning for a trip to France and her friends began to feel less concern, but she also borrowed a gun from a neighbor, ostensibly to shoot rabbits in her garden. On March 11, 1932, she shot herself fatally. She was found before she died and Ralph Partridge, Frances Marshall, and David Garnett arrived at Ham Spray House in time to say good-bye.
Broward Auction Gallery LLC
Sep. 25, 2020
Carrington (Dora, artist, wife of Ralph Partridge, 1893-1932) Autograph Letter Signed "Carrington", to Catherine Carrington, wife of his brother Noel Carrington, n.d.
Est: £750 - £1,000
Carrington (Dora, artist, wife of Ralph Partridge, companion of Lytton Strachey, 1893-1932) Autograph Letter Signed "Carrington", to Catherine Carrington, wife of her brother Noel Carrington, 4pp., 4to, Ham Spray House, Wiltshire, n.d., discussing members of the Bloomsbury Group: Stephen Bell, Ralph and Frances Partridge and Lytton Strachey, the decoration of Strachey's library, a trip to London, and other news of family and friends, folds. ⁂ A characteristically breezy unpublished letter by Carrington discussing events and gossip of members of the Bloomsbury Group. Though a noted letter-writer (Woolf described her letters as "tearing like a may-fly up and down the pages"), Carrington's letters are rare at auction.
Forum Auctions - UK
Sep. 25, 2020
Carrington (Dora, artist, wife of Ralph Partridge, companion of Lytton Strachey, 1893-1932) 2 Photograph Albums , 1912-13.
Est: £2,000 - £3,000
Carrington (Dora, artist, wife of Ralph Partridge, companion of Lytton Strachey, 1893-1932) 2 Photograph Albums, containing c.200 photographs, captioned below in ink by Carrington, depicting Carrington at home, with family as well as with friends and contemporaries from the Slade School of Fine Art including Christopher Nevinson, Dorothy Brett and Mark Gertler, and Carrington painting a portrait of a sitter captioned "Dennis" and painting the murals at the Coach House in Ashridge House, some fading, tearing to mounts, hinges weak, original cloth, rubbing, fading and staining, oblong 8vo, 1912-13. ⁂ An excellent pair of albums containing a good number of unpublished photographs depicting the young Carrington and her companions at a nascent point in their careers.
Forum Auctions - UK
Jul. 05, 2020
ATTR TO Dora Carrington (UK,1893-1932) oil painting antique
Est: $1,450 - $1,600
ARTIST: ATTRIBUTED TO Dora de Houghton Carrington (British, 1893 - 1932) NAME: Abstract Composition MEDIUM: oil on board CONDITION: Very good. No visible inpaint under UV light. SIGHT SIZE: 24 x 30 inches / 60 x 76 cm FRAME SIZE: 29 x 35 inches / 73 x 88 cm SIGNATURE: lower right SIMILAR ARTISTS: Kenneth Armitage, Joe Tilson, Laurence Stephen Lowry, Wilhelmina Willie Barns-Graham, Sir Terry Frost, Lynn Russell Chadwick, Keith Vaughan, Gillian Ayres, Sir William Nicholson, Austin Osman Spare, William Scott, Paul Nash, Sandra Blow, Gwen John, Carel Victor Marlais Weight, Roger Hildesheim Hilton CATEGORY: antique vintage painting SKU#: 116585 WARRANTY: 7 days returns accepted if item doesn't match description US Shipping $120 + insurance. BIOGRAPHY: English woman, Dora de Houghton Carrington was an artist and a Bloomsbury bohemian who loved and was loved by both men and women. She even managed to make her name interesting. She was born Dora de Houghton Carrington but was known in Bloomsbury only by her surname. She was the fourth of five children born to Samuel Carrington and Charlotte Houghton, and in 1902 the family moved to Bedford, England where she attended a girls' high school, which emphasized sports, music, and drawing. The teachers encouraged her drawing and her parents paid for her to attend extra drawing classes in the afternoons. In 1910 she won a scholarship to the Slade School of Art in London and studied there with Henry Tonks. The Slade at that time was a centre of what we would now call radical chic. She started a new fashion at the school by cutting her hair into a kind of pudding-bowl cut. She did well at the Slade, winning several prizes and moving quickly through the courses. When Carrington was eighteen she met Mark Gertler (1897-1939), who was a very strong influence on this first phase of her life as an artist. He introduced her to the society hostess Lady Ottoline Morrell, and thus into the Bloomsbury group. Carrington acquitted herself well at the Slade, winning several prizes and moving quickly through the courses. She left school in 1914 and returned to her parents' home to decide on her next step. She enjoyed being in the country but felt stifled by the lack of intellectual stimulation in general and her mother in particular. Gertler introduced her to Lady Ottoline Morrell, and thus into the Bloomsbury group of artists and writers. It was while visiting Morrell at Garsington Manor in 1915 that Carrington was introduced to Lytton Strachey, a writer and confirmed homosexual. Gertler, feeling that Strachey could act as a safe go-between for himself, encouraged their friendship. To his dismay, Carrington fell inexplicably and deeply in love with Strachey, a love that would last for the rest of her life and cause her to follow him from life into death. In 1917 Carrington's relationship with Gertler ended and when Strachey rented Mill House, Tidmarsh, she moved in with him. Carrington met Ralph Partridge, an Oxford friend of her younger brother Noel, in 1918. Partridge fell in love with Carrington and, accepting that she was still in love with Strachey and would not give up her platonic relationship or living arrangements with him, married her in 1921. In 1924 he and Strachey purchased the lease to Ham Spray House, near Hungerford, and all three lived out their lives there. Over the next eight years Carrington divided her time between domestic chores, caring for Strachey whose health was erratic, and her art work. She painted on almost any medium she could find including glass, tiles, pub signs, and the walls of friends' homes; she also made woodcuts for Hogarth Press and did some leather work. She had two well-known affairs, one with Gerald Brenan, an army friend of Partridge's, and the other with a sailor, Beakus Penrose. In 1926 Partridge formed an attachment to Frances Marshall, ending his marriage with Carrington in spirit, if not in law, but maintained his role of manager for Ham Spray House, visiting most weekends. In November 1931 Strachey became suddenly and violently ill. Doctors fluctuated between diagnoses of typhoid fever and ulcerative colitis, but his condition--stomach cancer--was not accurately diagnosed until an autopsy was performed. Round the clock nurses were hired and various treatments were tried. In late December he took a turn for the worse and on December 20 Carrington attempted suicide by shutting herself in the garage with the car running. Partridge rescued her and she recovered enough to spend the last few days of Strachey's life taking her turn watching over him. On January 21, 1932, Strachey died. The greatest concern of their friends now became preventing Carrington from killing herself; arrangements were made to keep her occupied and attended. In March Carrington was planning for a trip to France and her friends began to feel less concern, but she also borrowed a gun from a neighbor, ostensibly to shoot rabbits in her garden. On March 11, 1932, she shot herself fatally. She was found before she died and Ralph Partridge, Frances Marshall, and David Garnett arrived at Ham Spray House in time to say good-bye.
Broward Auction Gallery LLC
Apr. 10, 2019
Carrington 30x40 approx movie poster from the 1995 British biographical film written and directed by
Est: £6 - £8
Carrington 30x40 approx movie poster from the 1995 British biographical film written and directed by Christopher Hampton about the life of the English painter Dora Carrington (1893-1932), who was known simply as "Carrington". The screenplay is based on biographies of writer and critic Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) by Michael Holroyd. Grade A condition. We combine postage on multiple winning lots and can ship worldwide. UK postage from £3.99, EU from £5.99, Rest of World from £7.99.
Chaucer Auctions
Oct. 25, 2017
ATTRIBUTED TO DORA CARRINGTON (1893-1932) - SEATED FEMALE NUDE
Est: £1,500 - £2,000
ATTRIBUTED TO DORA CARRINGTON (1893-1932) SEATED FEMALE NUDE pencil 39 cm by 28 cm; 15 1/2 in by 11 in Provenance Acquired from the Grovsenor Gallery by Lady Marina Vaizey; gifted to Gila Falkus on her marriage; Acquired by the present owner from the Bloomsbury Workshop
Olympia Auctions
May. 26, 2017
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) Flowering Cactus, circa 1931
Est: £15,000 - £25,000
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) Flowering Cactus, circa 1931 oils on canvas 75cm x 45cm. Provenance: Alix Strachey (née Sargant-Florence) and James Strachey (the brother of Lytton Strachey); Collection of Simonette Strachey, where bequeathed to the current owner. Literature: Jane Hill, The Art of Dora Carrington, The Herbert Press Ltd., London, 1995, p.112, illustrated. 'Carrington took a different approach again when she painted a red flowering cactus, perhaps one of the rare cactuses that Dorelia had given her in July 1931 for her hothouse. Such was her eagerness to paint it, she put the pot, still in its tissue paper, into a saucer of water and then placed it on the bare wooden floor against the corner of a blue wall; lightly painting it, by tone, almost twice the size she had been painting portraits.' (p.112, Hill)
Mallams
Mar. 16, 2016
DORA CARRINGTON | Organ Grinder
Est: £600 - £800
pencil
Sotheby's
Mar. 11, 2014
Dora Carrington-(British, 1893-1932)-Exotic flower 48.3 x 36.8 cm. (19 x 14 1/2 in.)
Est: £4,000 - £6,000
Exotic flower mixed media and foil collage on glass 48.3 x 36.8 cm. (19 x 14 1/2 in.)
Bonhams
Mar. 05, 2014
Dora Carrington
Est: £6,000 - £8,000
oil, ink and silver foil on glass,55 by 45.5cm., 21Â¾ by 18in.,Executed in 1928.
Sotheby's
Oct. 16, 2013
Dora Carrington (1893-1932), STUDY OF A BEARDED
Est: £800 - £1,200
Dora Carrington (1893-1932), STUDY OF A BEARDED MAN, POSSIBLY LYTTON STRACHEY Pencil 21 x 20cm Exhibited: Upper Grosvenor Galleries, 1970; The Bloomsbury Workshop, 'Lytton Strachey and Carrington', 1989.
Sworders
Sep. 09, 2013
Dora Carrington (1893-1932), STUDY OF COWS Pencil
Est: £100 - £150
Dora Carrington (1893-1932), STUDY OF COWS Pencil 10.5 x 8cm Provenance: The Bloomsbury Workshop.
Sworders
Feb. 06, 2013
Manner of Dora Carrington (1893-1932). A pair of
Est: £100 - £150
Manner of Dora Carrington (1893-1932). A pair of glass and foil pictures, together two coloured glass paintings with crumpled foil behind, both depicting flowers in a vase and birds, 49 x 39cm (19.25 x 15.25ins), matching frames (2) Please Note: Buyer's Premium for this lot is 23.40%
Dominic Winter Auctions
Sep. 12, 2012
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) Still life with tulips
Est: £8,000 - £12,000
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) Still life with tulips in a jug, oil on canvas, a portrait sketch with an adjacent emblematic pattern outlined verso, 61 x 51cm (24 x 20 in). Provenance: with The Trafford Gallery, Mount Street.
Dreweatts 1759
Sep. 12, 2012
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) Rococo gondola, oil,
Est: £6,000 - £8,000
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) Rococo gondola, oil, ink and silver foil on glass, 39 x 58.5cm. (15 1/4 x 23 in) Provenance: private collection, acquired around 1995 from the daughter of the original purchaser who had bought it in the early 1930.
Dreweatts 1759
Dec. 15, 2011
Dora Carrington (1892-1932)
Est: £5,000 - £7,000
Dora Carrington (1892-1932) Iris Tree on a Horse oil, ink, silver foil and mixed media on glass 4½ x 5½ in. (11.4 x 14 cm.)
Christie's
Nov. 23, 2011
CARRINGTON, Dora (1892-1932). Series of 23 autograph letters signed to Arthur Waley, Tidmarsh and elsewhere, 1919 and n.d., Waley's name in the salutation often replaced by a sketch of a whale or variants, a number of doodles and sketches
Est: £2,000 - £3,000
CARRINGTON, Dora (1892-1932). Series of 23 autograph letters signed to Arthur Waley, Tidmarsh and elsewhere, 1919 and n.d., Waley's name in the salutation often replaced by a sketch of a whale or variants, a number of doodles and sketches including drawings of Tidmarsh Mill, Soho Square and the cat Ptolemy, approximately 50 pages, 8vo. Carrington's letters are full of warmth towards Waley, and gossip about her ménage with Lytton Strachey (who in a number of letters is laid up with 'a beastly disease called shinguls [sic]') and other Bloomsbury members, with occasional flashes of insight into her own character and activities: 'I liked you more the other night Because either you are becoming less Chinese, or I am acquiring more penentration [sic] into the Chinese character ... Short Comedy on my return at Gordon Square 11 ock. Scene. Hall. Bunny about to leave the House. Bunny. "Will you give me one kiss before Maynard comes IN -- " Yale Key turns the lock Maynard enters ripe with good living And wine from the Carlton. Frustration of Bunny. Triumph of Maynard. Its all very sad'; 'Oh how detestable are these cold mornings. You in your aloofness I know hardly consider such trivials. But to me they are immense ... Last night I dreamt of Ottoline -- & drowning tortoiseshell kittens the night before'; 'I am going to paint a portrait of Alix & Harry N playing chess. They are carrying on such a conversation -- Mr Trott. "unnatural vice". "not typical". "a market for the other kind". "what most womanizers demanded" what does it all mean'.
Christie's
Nov. 15, 2011
Dora Carrington (British, 1893-1932) Ted at the violin - a study of the artist's family
Est: £600 - £800
Ted at the violin - a study of the artist's family pencil 26.5 x 29.5cm (10 7/16 x 11 5/8in). circa 1913
Bonhams
Mar. 23, 2011
Dora Carrington (1893-1932)
Est: £10,000 - £15,000
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) Tulips oil, ink and silver foil on glass 22½ x 17½ in. (57.2 x 44.5 cm.) Painted circa 1921-1925.
Christie's
Dec. 15, 2010
DORA CARRINGTON
Est: £15,000 - £20,000
DORA CARRINGTON 1893-1932 CIRCUS HORSES oil on canvas 34 by 75cm.; 13½ by 29½in. Executed circa 1922-7, there is a Self-Portrait on the reverse.
Sotheby's
Jun. 30, 2010
Dora Carrington (British, 1893-1932) Bedford Market 43 x 67 cm. (17 x 26 1/2 in.)
Est: £8,000 - £12,000
Bedford Market signed with initials and dated 'DC 1911' (lower right) pencil, ink and watercolour 43 x 67 cm. (17 x 26 1/2 in.)
Bonhams
May. 27, 2010
Dora Carrington (1893-1932)
Est: £25,000 - £35,000
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) Annie Stiles oil on canvas 20¼ x 16¼ in. (51.4 x 41.3 cm.) Painted in 1921.
Christie's
Dec. 03, 2009
Dora Carrington (British, 1893-1932) Spanish Landscape-The Sierra, done near Yegen
Est: £700 - £1,000
Spanish Landscape-The Sierra, done near Yegen incribed as titled to gallery label verso, pencil, 29 x 39cm (11 7/16 x 15 3/8in).
Bonhams
Jun. 06, 2008
Sailing Ship
Est: £5,000 - £8,000
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) Sailing Ship oil, ink, silver foil and mixed media on glass 3½ x 4½ in. (8.8 x 11.4 cm.) Painted circa 1929.
Christie's
Jun. 06, 2008
S.V. Sans Pareil
Est: £7,000 - £10,000
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) S.V. Sans Pareil inscribed 'S.V. SANS PAREIL' (lower left) oil, ink, silver foil and mixed media on glass 4¼ x 5¾ in. (10.8 x 14.5 cm.) Painted circa 1929.
Christie's
Jun. 06, 2008
Bon Voyage
Est: £8,000 - £12,000
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) Bon Voyage oil, ink, silver foil and mixed media on glass 6¼ x 8¼ in. (16 x 21 cm.) Painted circa 1929.
Christie's
Jun. 06, 2008
The barque Harmony in the ice off the Labrador Coast
Est: £6,000 - £8,000
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) The barque Harmony in the ice off the Labrador Coast oil, ink, silver foil and mixed media on glass 4 x 5 in. (10.2 x 12.6 cm.) Painted circa 1929.
Christie's
May. 13, 2008
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) MERMAID, 1920,
Est: £5,000 - £8,000
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) MERMAID, 1920, Inscribed verso 'For me by Carrington', bodycolour, ink and silver foil on glass, a painted oval 9 x 11cm Provenance: Bea (Beatrice) Howe, a journalist and friend of Carrington Exhibited: Barbican Art Gallery, no. 138
Sworders
May. 13, 2008
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) NUDE WITH BIRD Oil on
Est: £8,000 - £12,000
Dora Carrington (1893-1932) NUDE WITH BIRD Oil on canvas, painted circa 1923 25.5 x 30.5cm Provenance: Charlotte Strachey, her husband Anthony Blond gifted it to the present owner. The nude probably portrays Henrietta Bingham, daughter of the American Ambassador to the Court of St James, with whom Carrington was besotted in the mid 1920s. Extract from Gerald Brennan 'A Personal Record', p 75 'Henrietta was the daughter of Judge Bingham, a Kentucky millionaire who was said to have murdered his wife, and who some years later was appointed ambassador in London by President Roosevelt. Carrington was fascinated by Henrietta with her pure oval face, long-lashed blue eyes and low husky Southern voice, and some time that summer they had an affair. It was the only lesbian affair of her life and it did not last long since Henrietta changed her lovers often. I did not feel jealous and not only offered them my room for their meetings, but said that I would give up my claim to seeing Carrington when she came up to town if that meant that she could spend her time with her friend. What I did not then know was that Carrington was basically a lesbian too and that her affair with Henrietta would affect her physical relations with me by giving her a feeling of guilt which made her react against me afterwards. I was to pay dearly for her having met this American girl. Dora de Houghton Carrington was an English painter, designer and decorative artist whose life and relationships were complex. She had affairs with both men and women, but is best known for her deep attachment to the homosexual writer Lytton Strachey. Carrington painted only for her own pleasure, did not sign her works and rarely exhibited them, hence she was not well known as a painter during her lifetime. She lacked confidence in her own work and undervalued it. She was a perfectionist whose work never met her expectations. Perhaps her most famous work is the iconic 'Portrait of Lytton Strachey', painted in 1916. Even though she was a founding member of the Omega Workshop with Roger Fry, her decorative art also remained unknown to the public until the late 1960s. Although not a member of the Bloomsbury Group, she is closely associated with them through her affair with Lytton Strachey, her occasional lesbian affairs and her 'Bohemian' attitudes. She married Ralph Partridge in 1921, but spent most of her life with Strachey, the three living together for many years in a menage a trois. There were no exhibitions of Carrington's work during her lifetime. The first was held at the Upper Grosvenor Galleries in London in 1970. A second exhibition was held at the Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford in 1978. Curated by Noel, Carrington's brother, it was more comprehensive in coverage and included Carrington's paintings, drawings and decorative works. More recently, in 1995, there was a retrospective exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. Despite the posthumous recognition that she has gained, she remains the most neglected serious painter of her generation.
Sworders
Dec. 07, 2007
Carrington (Dora, 1893-1932). Head of a young
Est: £150 - £200
Carrington (Dora, 1893-1932). Head of a young woman, c. 1914, pencil on paper, 140 x 110 mm (5.5 x 4.25 in), framed and glazed with oval mount, with gallery label of The Bloomsbury Workshop to verso Provenance: From the collection of Robert Reedman, Esq. (1)
Dominic Winter Auctions
Mar. 01, 2007
DORA CARRINGTON, 1893-1932
Est: £3,000 - £4,000
MOTHER AND CHILD 39x30cm.; 15¼x11¾in. oil, ink and silver foil on glass
Sotheby's
Nov. 01, 2006
[CARRINGTON, Dora (1893-1932)]. JAMES, Henry. The Figure in the Carpet. London: Secker
Est: £300 - £500
[CARRINGTON, Dora (1893-1932)]. JAMES, Henry. The Figure in the Carpet. London: Secker, 1916. 8°. Original brown cloth (worn). PRESENTATION COPY to 'D. E. Brett from Carrington 10. Nov 1919'. Uniform edition. A student at the Slade School, Dorothy Brett was the constant companion of Carrington and Mark Gertler, who first took them to Garsington. In her memoirs, Morrell recalled how, on August 12th 1916, 'she was sitting next to Brett up in the studio for a painting' when Robbie Ross came in and introduced Siegfried Sassoon to her for the first time. Bloomsbury was incensed, however, when in 1933 Brett published her book Lawrence and Brett: A Friendship, Morrell writing to Virginia Woolf on 10 July 1933 about 'That cunning, spiteful, evil-smelling little poisonous insect Brett... She is a leech, and her apparent devotion is only to suck one.' (Woolf, Letters V, p.230). Nevertheless, in the latter years of her life, Brett fiercely defended Lady Ottoline when she was made fun of in Bloomsbury memoirs. JAMES, Henry. An International Episode [and other tales]. London: Macmillan, 1883. 8°. Original blue cloth. Inscribed 'D. E. Brett. Xmas 1917. D.C.' CARRINGTON, Dora. Autograph letter signed to [Ottoline] [n.d., n.p.], 3 pages, 8vo. 'We saw Charleston, where Vanessa lives... a wonderful place... with a wild romantic garden.' 'Brett is launching out in a further trousseaux!'. Carrington informs Ottoline that she has begun painting again after a period of idleness, and that she is desperate to see her again; she also mentions a dinner in Richmond with the Woolfs, ('I liked Virginia so much. She was so very amusing'), Roger [Fry], Lady Strachey and others; and, Dorothy BRETT (1883-1977). Autograph letter signed ('Brettie') to [Ottoline Morrell] ('my wonderful, beautiful friend', [n.p., n.d., ?1916/7], in pencil and ink, 1 1/2 pages, 8vo, talking in emotional terms of her love for Ottoline, 'I have carried away with me a vision of you... if my heart were crystal you would see the perfect image of yourself enclosed & held like the fly in the Amber'. Brett had a series of crushes on Ottoline, who put her up at Garsington from 1916 to 1919 and provided her with a studio. 'I love you very much, so keep hold of me'. (4)
Christie's
Jun. 28, 2006
DORA CARRINGTON 1893-1932
Est: £30,000 - £40,000
PORTRAIT OF JULIA STRACHEY 40.5 by 35.5cm., 16 by 14in. oil on canvas PROVENANCE Sale, Sotheby's, London, 9th November 1988, lot 70, whence purchased by the present owners EXHIBITED London, Barbican Art Gallery, Dora Carrington, 1995, no.77. LITERATURE David Garnett, Carrington: Letters and Extracts from Her Diaries, Jonathan Cape, London, 1970; Teresa Grimes, Judith Collins and Oriana Baddely, Five Women Painters, Lennard Publishing, Oxford,1989; Mary Ann Caws, Women of Bloomsbury: Virginia, Vanessa and Carrington, Routledge, 1990, p.145; Jan Marsh, Bloomsbury Women: Distinct Figures in Life and Art, Pavilion Books Limited, 1995, p.123. NOTE Carrington met Julia Strachey (1901-79) in the mid-1920s and was immediately entranced by her charm, intelligence and beauty. The niece of Lytton Strachey, Julia had been a model in Paris and student at the Slade, and was working to establish herself as a novelist. Her friendship with Carrington blossomed further when she married the sculptor Stephen Tomlin in 1927 and came to live in Wiltshire near Ham Spray where Carrington had made her home with Lytton Strachey. The relationship between the two women was recorded in their six year correspondence begun in 1925, in which Carrington signs herself 'Tante C' or 'Aunt C', while Julia appears to have acted as something of a style advisor to her older friend (see David Garnett, Carrington: Letters and Extracts from Her Diaries, Jonathan Cape, London, 1970). Sharing a love of fine clothes, Julia later remembered, 'For me, in my twenties, she produced powders and perfumes, hats, beads and ribbons. She helped me dress up to go to parties and entered into all my fantastic projects for plays and perfomances.' Painted at Ham Spray in 1925, this portrait shows Julia dressed in a silk turban and glittering necklace. Investing her sitter with a certain exotic femininity Carrington's palette of soft pastels is in direct contrast to the bold directness of her sitter's pose and pursed lips, revealing of Julia's strong character and acute powers of observation. Julia Strachey's celebrated first novel, 'Cheerful Weather for the Wedding' was published by Hogarth Press in 1932 and later became a Penguin Modern Classic. Carrington had originally planned to design its dust jacket but, following Lytton Strachey's untimely death, she in turn committed suicide in March of that year. Julia went on to publish a number of short stories and a second novel - 'An Integrated Man' (1951) - and though her marriage to Tomlin broke down in 1934, she later met Sir Lawrence Gowing, her second husband from whom she became inseparable. After Julia's death in 1979, her great friend Frances Partridge edited her letters and diaries into a book called 'Julia' in which her moving and perceptive tribute may be found, 'Carrington - A Study of a Modern Witch' .
Sotheby's
Jul. 21, 2005
DORA CARRINGTON 1893-1932 PORTRAIT OF FRANK PREWETT
Est: £40,000 - £60,000
oil on canvas EXHIBITED London, Barbican Art Gallery, Carrington: The Exhibition, September - December 1995, no.41. LITERATURE AND REFERENCES David Garnett, Carrington: Letters and Extracts from her Diaries, Jonathan Cape, London, 1970, p.143; Jane Hill, The Art of Dora Carrington, Herbert Press, London, 1994, p.36, illustrated in colour p.52. CATALOGUE NOTE Painted in 1920. Frank James Prewett (1893-1962) was a Canadian poet who spent most of his life in Britain. He fought in France in WWI and was invalided out in 1917, meeting Siegfried Sasson at the Craiglockhart War Hospital. Prewett became part of the Garsington circle, being known as 'Toronto', and was a particular favourite of Lady Ottoline Morrell until disgracing himself by making a pass at her teenage daughter. His work was included in the last of the Georgian Poetry anthologies, and his first book, Poems, was published in 1922 by the Hogarth Press. Mark Gertler, who was often rather dismissive of men in Carrington's circle, memorably wrote that Prewett 'mooches about like a faded Hamlet' (correspondence, Mark Gertler to W.J.Turner, 4th January 1923)
Sotheby's
Nov. 19, 2004
Dora Carrington (1893-1932)
Est: £40,000 - £60,000
Flowers in a two-handled vase oil on canvas 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.7 cm.) Painted circa 1925.
Christie's
Jul. 26, 2001
Dora Carrington (1893-1932)
Est: $1,136 - $1,704
Man with Tent (II) pencil, pen, brush and coloured inks 7 x 10in. (17.8 x 25.5cm.) PROVENANCE Mrs Norton Wood, by whom purchased at the 1973 exhibition EXHIBITION London, Gallery Edward Harvane, A Summing Up - Bloomsbury no.IV, 8 Feb - 9 Mar 1973, no.17.
Christie's
Jul. 26, 2001
Dora Carrington (1893-1932)
Est: $1,136 - $1,704
Naked Figure in an Apple-Loft pencil, pen and black ink 103/4 x 81/2in. (27.2 x 21.5cm.) PROVENANCE Mrs Norton Wood, by whom purchased at the 1973 exhibition EXHIBITION London, Gallery Edward Harvane, Summing up - Bloomsbury no.IV, 8 Feb - 9 Mar 1973, no.18.
Christie's