Dora Gordine
| Dora Gordine | |
|---|---|
| Born |
13 April 1895 Liepāja, Latvia, Russian Empire |
| Died | 29 December 1991 (aged 96) Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England, UK |
| Nationality | Estonian |
| Known for | Painting, sculpture, interior design |
| Notable work | Happy Baby, Mother and Child, head sculptures, Dorich House |
| Awards | Fellow of Royal British Society of Sculptors (FRBS), Society of Portrait Sculptors |
Dora Gordine, FRBS (13 April 1895 – 29 December 1991) aka La Gordine, was an Estonian sculptor.
Dora Gordine's childhood has not been well documented. There is confusion over her date of birth with various dates 1895 (likely), 1898 and 1906 mentioned. She was the youngest of four children born to Morduch ("Mark") Gordin and Esther (née Schepschelevitch) in Liepāja, Latvia, at a time when it was still part of the Russian Empire. Two of her siblings, Nikolai and Anna, died at the hands of the Nazis in Tallinn, Estonia in 1941. Another brother, Leopold, escaped and lived in London until his death.
She came to Paris to study music and art, making the acquaintance of Aristide Maillol. Then, surrounded by galleries and salons, she "instinctively felt a correlation between the rhythms of music and sculpture" and developed her sculptural vision. Gordin gallicised her surname by adding an "e".
In 1925 she worked as a painter on a mural for the British Pavilion at the Decorative Arts Exhibition. It provided the means to cast a bronze for exhibition at the Beaux Arts Society. The following year she was invited to exhibit at the Salon des Tuileries where her design of the head & torso of a Chinese philosopher earned enthusiastic reviews; The Straits Times (1932) wrote: "Like Byron, one morning Dora Gordine woke up famous". Between 1929 and 1935 she sculpted bronzes for the City Hall, Singapore.Leicester Galleries in London presented Gordine's sculpture in a solo show in 1928. It was a huge success and all her work was sold, amongst which Javanese Head was bought by Samuel Courtauld for the Tate Gallery collection.
In 1935, together with her husband Richard Hare, Gordine turned to architecture, designing Dorich House in Kingston. The building exhibits a modernist combination of vernacular, classical and eastern features.
In 1936 she married the Hon. Richard Gilbert Hare (5 September 1907 – 1966), son of Richard Granville Hare, 4th Earl of Listowel and Freda Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone on 21 November 1936. They lived at Dorich House, London.
Her husband introduced her to London society figures, many of whom sat for her, Dame Edith Evans, Dame Beryl Grey, Dorothy Tutin, Siân Phillips, Emlyn Williams, Sir Kenneth Clark, John Pope-Hennessy and Professor F. Brown, Head of the Slade School of Art. There were also overseas commissions including the Philosopher Kuu Nim, whose head sculpture Gordine called 'the Chinese Lady of Peace' and a bas-relief at Gray's Inn to Sun Yat-Sen, the former leader of China.
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Wikipedia