17/12/24
Dora Carrington: Beyond Bloomsbury
Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
9 November 2024 – 27 April 2025
The name Carrington is synonymous with that of Lytton Strachey, author of Eminent Victorians and one of the original “Bloomsberries”, and, until recently, I confess to her iconic (and I don’t use that word lightly) portrait of him being the only one of her paintings with which I was familiar. I would hazard a guess that this might be true for a good few others, as well – even those who, like me, would consider themselves to know a fair bit about the Bloomsbury Group and its art. Too young to have seen the exhibition of her work at the Barbican in 1995, I do, however, know and love the biopic, starring Emma Thompson, which came out that same year. But, in that, as elsewhere, Carrington is defined in relation to Strachey, not as a woman and an artist in her own right. Thankfully, this new exhibition at Pallant House Gallery, curated by Ariane Bankes and Anne Chisholm (who recently edited a new edition of Carrington’s letters), takes huge strides in setting this record straight.
Read my full review here