Valentine Dobrée
Valentine Dobrée | |
---|---|
Cannanore, British India | |
Died | 14 May 1974 (age 79–80) |
Other names | Clare Bollard[note 1] |
Occupation(s) | Visual artist, novelist, poet |
Spouse | [2] |
Children | Georgina |
Valentine Dobrée (1894–1974) was a visual artist (oil painting and collage), novelist and poet.
Life and work
Gladys May Mabel Brooke-Pechell was born in
She exhibited her figurative oil paintings with the
In 1920, with
Dobrée's first solo exhibition of thirty-four works was at the Claridge Gallery, London, in 1931.
Fine art collage, a 20th-century innovation, was a technique she used in the years around 1930 and her work was highly regarded – Herbert Read owned some of her art. The Times reported on 9 December 1931 'Her designs, mostly cut out of patterned wallpapers, are definitely and very intelligently "cubist"'.[5] Due to poor health and World War II her output became reduced but in the 1960s she returned to collage, albeit from her bed, and held exhibitions at the Zwemmer Gallery.[6]
On the death of her father, Lieutenant Colonel Sir Alexander Brooke-Pechell Bt. on 6 October 1937, Gladys May Mabel (Dobrée) was left just over £10,000.[9]
Involvement with Bloomsbury Group
Dobrée was vivacious, voluptuous and unstable and, as she encountered members of the Bloomsbury Group, some Bloomsberries became particularly attracted to her.[1]: 172 She and her husband had an open marriage – he accepted her extramarital affairs.[1]: 178 She became Mark Gertler's lover and he painted portraits of her in 1919 and 1920.[5] Dora Carrington had met her at the
In 1922 Dobrée's indiscretion started "The Great Row" (as it was later called by Frances Partridge) amongst the ménage à trois of Strachey, Carrington and her husband Ralph Partridge. Carrington, only recently married to Ralph Partridge, was having an occasional rather chaste affair with Gerald Brenan. She was keeping it secret from her husband who was openly having affairs with a number of other women.[5][1]: 172, 184–185 Dobrée told Ralph that while he and his wife had been staying at the Dobrées' house in the Pyrenees, she had agreed to distract him so Carrington could be alone with Brenan. Partridge became enraged with his wife when she initially denied the story – he regarded her deceit as more shameful than his infidelity.[10] Despite attempts to calm matters by Strachey and Virginia Woolf, the marriage was damaged although they continued together for some time with Carrington having to accept that Dobrée had now also started an affair with her (Carrington's) husband and then, later, with Brenan.[10][1]: 188–192
Notes
- ^ Name used by Michael Holroyd, David Garnett and Gerald Brenan in their writings to preserve her anonymity.[1]: 320
References
- ^ ISBN 0-7126-7420-9.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31035. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage, Sir Bernard Burke, Ashworth P. Burke, 72nd ed., 1910, p. 1430
- ^ ISBN 9780993088483.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Valentine Dobree". 20th century British Art. Liss Llewellyn Fine Art. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- ^ a b "Auction Details - East Anglian, Fine Art and Antique Sale including The Glyn Morgan Collection (Day 2 of 2)". www.auction-net.co.uk. AuctionNet :: Pardy & Son. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- ISBN 978-0-7188-4161-4. Archivedfrom the original on 29 January 2018.
- ISBN 978-0-571-27964-7. Archivedfrom the original on 29 January 2018.
- ^ England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations),31 January 1938.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-297-85771-6. Archivedfrom the original on 29 January 2018.
External links
- 6 artworks by or after Valentine Dobrée at the Art UK site