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Ad Code: 3
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from Auction House Records.
Shrouded Figures Under a full moon
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Born in London, England, to a wealthy family with ties to royalty, she
became a noted long-time resident artist of Taos, New Mexico. She
grew up in the court of Queen Victoria and took dancing lessons with
the Queen's grandchildren. She saw her first American Indian when
she was age five attending a performance in London of Buffalo Bill's
Wild West Show. She determined to be an artist, which was counter
to her parent's social expectations of her, and she enrolled in the
Slade School of Art in 1910 and graduated six years later. Titled
the "Honorable Dorothy Brett," she also attended University College.
She
began painting portraits of English celebrities including novelist D.H.
Lawrence, and she went to Taos with him and his wife in 1924. It was
supposed to be a short visit, but she remained, becoming a U.S. citizen
in 1938. She began painting Indian genre but was hesitant because her
background was academic landscape and portrait painting. Her first
Indian depiction was a rabbit hunt. She became a close associate of
socialite/artist Mabel Dodge Luhan, and she and Luhan and Frieda
Lawrence became such close friends and fixtures of society in Taos that
they were known as the "Three Fates." They were marked by their
attachment to D.H. Lawrence. Nearly deaf, she had a brass ear trumpet
that she called Tobey, a long contraption with a slit at the end.
Her painting style is primitive, and her expressions of Indian life were romanticized. |
Biography from David Cook Galleries (A-L):
| Dorothy Eugenie Brett
Born England, 1883
Died New Mexico, 1977
As the daughter of a close advisor to Queen Victoria, Dorothy Brett enjoyed a privileged upbringing in London, England. She studied in London, at the Slade School of Art for four years and at University College. As an aristocrat, she had the opportunity to paint portraits of several English celebrities. Counted among her friends were Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, George Bernard Shaw, and D.H. and Frieda Lawrence.
When Mabel Dodge Luhan extended an invitation to the Lawrences to visit Taos in 1924, Brett accompanied them. When the Lawrences moved on, Brett stayed behind establishing permanent residence in Taos. In 1938, she became a citizen of the United States.
Brett was deaf by the age of 27 and is often remembered for the brass ear-trumpet she carried along with her. Throughout her extensive career, Brett painted portraits, landscapes, single Indian dancers, mystic or symbolic pieces, and, said to be her favorite subject, the Taos Indian celebrations. Like many of her European contemporaries, Brett’s interest in Native Americans stemmed from seeing Buffalo Bill’s touring Wild West Show.
EXHIBITIONS
Corcoran Gallery, 1932; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1950; University of Illinois, 1953; American-British Art Club, 1950;
COLLECTIONS
Museum of New Mexico
Buffalo Museum of Science
Further Reading:
"The Illustrated Biographical Encyclopedia of Artists of the American West", Peggy and Harold Samuels, Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, New York, 1976.
"Independent Spirits: Women Painters of the American West, 1890-1945", Patricia Trenton, Ed., Published for the Autry Museum of Western Heritage by the University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles, California, 1995.
"Lawrence and Brett: A Friendship", Dorothy Brett with a prologue and epilogue by John Manchester, Sunstone Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1974.
"Legendary Artists of Taos", Mary Carroll Nelson, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1980.
"Picturesque Images from Taos and Santa Fe", Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, 1974.
"Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975": 400 Years of Artists in America, Vol. 1. Peter Hastings Falk, Georgia Kuchen and Veronica Roessler, eds.,Sound View Press, Madison, Connecticut, 1999. 3 Vols. |
Biography from Altermann Galleries and Auctioneers, II:
| Born: London, England 1883
Modern Taos painter, writer
The Honorable Dorothy Brett was educated privately and took dancing lessons with Queen Victoria’s grandchildren. Beginning in her mid-20’s, she studied four years at the Slade School of Art in London and at University College. An aristocrat, she painted portraits of the English celebrities of the time including the novelist DH Lawrence. When the Lawrences and Lady Brett visited Taos in 1924, she remained, becoming a citizen in 1938. She is remembered as with her “fabulous brass ear-trumpet named Tobey, a long contraption with a round half-open slot at the end.”
Her paintings are consciously “primitive” in style, aiming at “combining the real and spiritual worlds.” Also, “her Indians are subtle, wild and sweet , with the slant-eyed look of fauns.” Her women are “intensely feminine.” She makes it “glamorous and always stylish.” She wrote “Lawrence and Brett” and contributed to The New Yorker magazine. Like other Europeans of her generation, her preoccupation with the American Indian came from seeing the touring Wild West Show of Buffalo Bill: “I fell in love with” one of the Indians who “rode wildly around the arena, naked, painted lemon yellow, wearing a great war bonnet with its feathers cascading down to his horse’s feet.” To paint the Indian ceremonials, she draws from memory, setting down her personal interpretations rather than reporting.
Resource: SAMUELS’ Encyclopedia of ARTISTS of THE AMERICAN WEST,
Peggy and Harold Samuels, 1985, Castle Publishing
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Biography from Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery Santa FeTucson:
| Dorothy Brett was born into great privilege in Victorian England and went on to become a painter of Native American scenes in Taos, New Mexico.
The daughter of one of Queen Victoria's closest advisors, Brett took art and dance lessons with royalty as a child and eventually went on to study painting at the Slade School of Art and University College, London. A bon vivant and socialite, her paintings were generally portraits of friends and acquaintances, amongst them the playwright George Bernard Shaw and the novelists Virginia Woolf and D.H. Lawrence. The Lawrences were dear friends of Brett and, when they accepted an invitation by Mabel Dodge Luhan to visit her in Taos, New Mexico, she came along.
Brett first arrived in Taos in 1924. She became inseparable from Frieda Lawrence and Mabel Dodge Luhan to the extent that they were known as "The Three Fates" in Taos social circles. Brett began to paint the native peoples of Taos, whom she found to be more peaceful and sedate than the warrior characters on horseback that she had seen as a girl in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in London. Her paintings took on a primitive air, depicting the Indians as a simple and spiritual culture.
When D.H. and Frieda left, Dorothy stayed. In 1938 she became a U.S. citizen. Deaf for the majority of her life, she carried an ornate brass ear trumpet named "Tobey" wherever she went. Dorothy Brett died in 1977. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of New Mexico and the Buffalo Museum of Science. |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
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Dorothy Brett is also mentioned in these AskART essays:
Taos Pre 1940
Women Artists
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