Lot 180: PATRICIA PREECE (1894-1966) (Dorothy Hepworth)

PATRICIA PREECE (1894-1966) (Dorothy Hepworth) Anna dressing, signed, 24" x 18" (see illustration) Provenance: Purchased by the vendor from the sale of pictures and drawings removed from the studio of the late Miss Dorothy Hepworth (Patricia Preece) sold at Christie's South Kensington, Monday, April 2nd, 1984, Lot 85. Dorothy Hepworth & Patricia Preece (Stanley Spencer's second wife) met at the Slade in 1917. Dorothy Hepworth and Patricia Preece settled in 1927 at Moor Hatch Cottage in Cookham. Dorothy Hepworth was, by all accounts, a very private person who was not socially at ease outside her environment. It may seem ironic that her work principally covers the human figure, but for the most part her sitters were the humble folk of Cookham. Such was her dislike of social discourse, that by agreement with Patricia Preece, she adopted her friend's name for the purpose of exhibiting her work and it was Patricia who dealt with the art galleries at which Dorothy's work was exhibited and Patricia who went to their Private Views.