Embracing Britannia: the concept of Britishness in the public sculpture and career of Dora Gordine (1895?-1991)

My 25 minute paper explored Dora Gordine's relationship with England/Britain/the British Empire between c. 1925 and 1964 (when her last piece of public sculpture was completed and unveiled). I argued that her sense of London/England/Britain had been shaped by her traumatic experiences of war and revolution c. 1915-22. She had been born the subject of Tsar Nicholas II but by the time she reached her early twenties the world she had once know had entirely been swept away. No she found herself living in and trying to establish herself as an artist in the tiny new state of Estonia. From there she moved to Paris and for a while attempted to put down roots there. However, she had her first solo exhibition, in 1928, in London. This was a great success and planted the seed of wishing to settle in the British capital. After a spell in the Far East, she was able to move in 1935 to Kingston Vale SW15 and her third husband paid for the building of her own miniature Art Deco stately home - Dorich House. The fact she looked and sounded so exotic/Russian/foreign was something she turned to her advantage. Indeed, the hints of being an outsider helped her become an insider in the highest echelons of the British cultural circles between the mid 1930's to the mid 60's.