Dora Carrington - The Tragic Muse of Bloomsbury


Alan Read to give this month's lecture from The Arts Society Ealing

Lytton Strachey by Dora Carrington oil on panel. Picture: National Portrait Gallery
Lytton Strachey by Dora Carrington oil on panel. Picture: National Portrait Gallery

February 19, 2025

The Arts Society Ealing's next lecture is being given by Alan Read on the subject “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 studied at the Slade School of Art where her student work showed promise but at a time when it was unusual for a woman to succeed as a professional artist. Her long (and improbable) relationship with the biographer Lytton Strachey was followed by marriage to Ralph Partridge and these complexities played a part in her death at the age of only 38.

The lecture will consider both her unconventional life and her art; a talent that has, perhaps, been overwhelmed by biography. An exhibition of her work will run at the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester until the 27 April 2025.

Lecturer, Alan Read, 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.

This talk is at 7:30pm on Monday 24 February at St Barnabas Church Hall, Pitshanger Lane, Ealing W5 1QG.

Visitors are welcome to attend at £8 per lecture (£3 for students); payment can be made in cash or by card on the evening.

The Arts Society Ealing belongs to the large umbrella organisation, The Arts Society, previously known as the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS), which was founded in 1968. The local Society has a membership of around 140.

The Arts Society Ealing holds 10 lectures a year and more information can be found by visiting its web site.

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