(Lady Stanley) Dorothy Tennant
(March 22, 1855 - October 5, 1926) |
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Art Work
| Name: |
(Lady Stanley) Dorothy Tennant |
| Gender: |
Female |
| Place of Birth: |
London, United Kingdom |
| Nationality: |
British |
| Birth: |
March 22, 1855 |
| Death: |
October 5, 1926 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
Click Here |
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Quick Facts
| Known For: |
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| Medium: |
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| Method: |
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| Style: |
Neoclassicist |
| Fine Art Profession(s): |
Painting
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Biography
Among the few works by women in the collection at the Tate Gallery's
inauguration was Lady Stanley's His First Offense- The painting had been exhibited at the New Gallery, where it was bought by Henry Tate. Her Street Arabs at Play was acquired by another wealthy manufacturer. W.H. Lever, in order to advertise his company's Sunlight Soap.
Dorothy Tennant studied under Edward Poynter and Alphonse Legros at the Slade, and then at Henner's atelier in Paris. She exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Grosvenor Gallery and the New Gallery in London, and at the Paris Salon. Her first husband was the explorer Sir Henry Stanley. She painted his portrait and edited his autobiography (London 1909). But it was for her drawings and paintings of London life, particularly children, that Lady Stanley became known. These were reproduced in magazines, and in her book London Street Arabs (London 1890).
In the preface to London Street Arabs Lady Stanley gave advice on working from life in the city: 'You must first walk about little back streets and alleys towards sunset; stroll about the lake in St James's Park, or along the Embankment by the steps leading down to the water ... Then look, and look without worrying your mind to remember; take it all in - the movements, the groups, the attitudes' By the 1890s.
the numbers of middle-class and upperclass women who. like Stanley, were entering higher education, were a visible presence in the city spaces and were caricatured as 'New Women'. Lady Stanley's art was shaped by the class difference structuring society and the art world at the time- Models were often working-class, depicted by those of higher rank. But although some of her work seems to be a sentimental take on the life of the - audiences, there: of the harshness of poverty. Stanley drew a mother slumped in a doorway with a child sprawled on her lap; another sells flowers in the rain with children clinging to her skirt. The very last etching in the book depicts a man in despair, his head in his hands, and is titled Out of Work. |
Samples of Work
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