Dorothy Hepworth
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Dorothy Mary Hepworth (30 September 1894 – 8 September 1978) was a British painter and the life partner of Patricia Preece.[1] Hepworth signed Preece's name to many of her own paintings, even after Preece's death.
Hepworth was born in 1894 in Leicester, Leicestershire, the older of two daughters of Adela née Jarvis (1865–1954) and Alfred James Hepworth (1859–1930), the owner of a hosiery warehouse. She also had a younger brother, Eric Pachley Hepworth (1897–1898).[2] She attended the Leicester School of Art from 1912.[3] Hepworth moved on to the Slade School of Fine Art in 1917,[4] where she met Patricia Preece, and from which she graduated with first class honours in 1919. She and Preece became lovers.[5][6][7] While still a student, Hepworth began exhibiting her work. After graduation, she spent four years with Preece in Paris, where Hepworth studied at the Académie Colarossi and Preece was a pupil of André Lhote.[7][8] They returned to England in 1925, where they relocated to Cookham for Hepworth's health.[1][6][8][7] The two received financial help from Hepworth's wealthy father to purchase a house there, but Hepworth's father lost his fortune in the stock market crash of 1929. Hepworth's father died in 1930, and afterwards Hepworth and Preece experienced difficulty making the mortgage payments on their home.[7] Preece and Hepworth were closeted about their relationship as was common at that time, and sometimes claimed to be sisters.[7]
