Skip navigation

Main menu

  • What's on
  • Art & Artists
    • The Collection
      Artists
      Artworks
      Art by theme
      Media
      Videos
      Podcasts
      Short articles
      Learning
      Schools
      Art Terms
      Tate Research
      Art Making
      Create like an artist
      Kids art activities
      Tate Draw game
  • Visit
  • Shop
Become a Member
  • DISCOVER ART
  • ARTISTS A-Z
  • ARTWORK SEARCH
  • ART BY THEME
  • VIDEOS
  • ART TERMS
  • SCHOOLS
  • TATE KIDS
  • RESEARCH
  • Tate Britain
    Tate Britain Free admission
  • Tate Modern
    Tate Modern Free admission
  • Tate Liverpool + RIBA North
    Tate Liverpool + RIBA North Free admission
  • Tate St Ives
    Tate St Ives Ticket or membership card required
  • FAMILIES
  • ACCESSIBILITY
  • SCHOOLS
  • PRIVATE TOURS
Tate Logo
Become a Member
  • Art and Artists
  • Tate Archive
  • Collections of Digitised Archive Items
  • Forty one sketches, prints and one unfinished oil painting by Dorothy Brett

Forty one sketches, prints and one unfinished oil painting by Dorothy Brett

[c.1910s–1920s]

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email
  • Pinterest

Dorothy Brett was a British painter, who studied at the Slade School of Art, associating with Dora Carrington, Barbara Hiles and the Bloomsbury group, from 1910 until 1916. She became known by her surname only and like Carrington and Hiles, she had her hair cut short (for the time) in a style that led Virginia Woolf to call them 'cropheads'. Through fellow student Mark Gertler, she met Lady Ottoline Morrell and began mixing in an artistic and literary circle that included Clive Bell, Bertrand Russell, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Augustus John, Aldous Huxley, and George Bernard Shaw. She became particularly close to Lawrence and his circle, who after visiting Taos, New Mexico for the first time in 1923 returned to London, where he held a dinner party at the Cafe Royal (which he called "The Last Supper"). There he tried to recruit friends to move to Taos in order "to create a utopian society he called 'Rananim'". While almost all who attended had "agreed to follow Lawrence to New Mexico....when it came to the actual packing for departure, there was only one recruit - the Honorable Dorothy Brett". Brett remained there for the rest of her life, becoming an American citizen in 1938. These 41 sketches and prints were completed by Brett while a student at the Slade School of Art. Most of the works depict studies of male and female nudes, but there are also several self-portraits, and prints and sketches showing biblical and fantastical scenes.

Collection Owner
The Hon. Dorothy Brett 1883–1977
Collection
Tate Archive
Acquisition
Purchased from Alan Cowie, London, 2017
Reference
TGA 20188

41 objects in this collection

  • Forty one sketches, prints and one unfinished oil painting by Dorothy Brett

    41 Objects

    • Forty one sketches and prints by Dorothy Brett

      41 Objects

Title
Forty one sketches, prints and one unfinished oil painting by Dorothy Brett
Date
[c.1910s–1920s]
Description
Dorothy Brett was a British painter, who studied at the Slade School of Art, associating with Dora Carrington, Barbara Hiles and the Bloomsbury group, from 1910 until 1916. She became known by her surname only and like Carrington and Hiles, she had her hair cut short (for the time) in a style that led Virginia Woolf to call them 'cropheads'. Through fellow student Mark Gertler, she met Lady Ottoline Morrell and began mixing in an artistic and literary circle that included Clive Bell, Bertrand Russell, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Augustus John, Aldous Huxley, and George Bernard Shaw. She became particularly close to Lawrence and his circle, who after visiting Taos, New Mexico for the first time in 1923 returned to London, where he held a dinner party at the Cafe Royal (which he called "The Last Supper"). There he tried to recruit friends to move to Taos in order "to create a utopian society he called 'Rananim'". While almost all who attended had "agreed to follow Lawrence to New Mexico....when it came to the actual packing for departure, there was only one recruit - the Honorable Dorothy Brett". Brett remained there for the rest of her life, becoming an American citizen in 1938. These 41 sketches and prints were completed by Brett while a student at the Slade School of Art. Most of the works depict studies of male and female nudes, but there are also several self-portraits, and prints and sketches showing biblical and fantastical scenes.
Reference
TGA 20188

Showing 1–20 of 41 objects

Grid
List

Two self-portrait sketches

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
[c.1910–20]
View by appointment

Sketch of a cafe scene

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
[c.1910–20]
View by appointment

Sketch of a female nude seated in an armchair

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
[c.1910–20]
View by appointment

Sketch of a female nude reclining with a book

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
1921
View by appointment

Woodcut of a male and a female figure riding a horse

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
1921
View by appointment

Sketch of three females having tea

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
1920
View by appointment

Sketch of a female nude lying on her side

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
1921
View by appointment

Sketch of workers harvesting a wheat field

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
[c.1910–20]
View by appointment

Sketch of a reclining female nude

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
[c.1910–20]
View by appointment

Sketch of a reclining female nude on a green background

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
[c.1910–20]
View by appointment

Studies of female nudes in various positions, and studies for a self-portrait

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
[c.1910–20]
View by appointment

Sketch of a girl looking sideways

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
[c.1910–20]
View by appointment

Sketch of a male subject with blue eyes

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
[c.1910–20]
View by appointment

Sketch of three females knitting in a park

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
1918
View by appointment

Sketch of three figures in front of a house

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
1921
View by appointment

Landscape sketch with three figures working in a field, and a faint portrait of a girl on the reverse

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
[c.1910–20]
View by appointment

Sketch of a fruit bowl

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
[c.1910–20]
View by appointment

Sketch inscribed ‘Strong men rolling stone’, and loose studies of figures on the reverse

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
[c.1910–20]
View by appointment

Lithograph of female nude figures

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
1920
View by appointment

Sketch of a female nude in a bathroom

The Hon. Dorothy Brett
1922
View by appointment
Artwork
Close

Join in

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
Sign up to emails

Sign up to emails

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Tate’s privacy policy

About

  • About us
  • Our collection
  • Terms and copyright
  • Governance
  • Picture library
  • ARTIST ROOMS
  • Tate Kids

Support

  • Tate Collective
  • Members
  • Patrons
  • Donate
  • Corporate
  • My account
  • Press
  • Jobs
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Contact
© The Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery, 2025
All rights reserved