Patricia Preece
Encyclopedia
Patricia Preece born Ruby Vivian Preece, was an English artist associated with the Bloomsbury Group
and the second wife of painter Stanley Spencer
, for whom she modelled. As a teenager, Preece was involved in the death of dramatist W. S. Gilbert
. While swimming in his lake, she lost her footing and called out; the 74-year-old Gilbert dived in to assist her, dying of a heart attack. She soon adopted the name Patricia and became engaged, but her progressive views displeased her fiancé, who terminated their engagement.
In 1918, Preece met her lifelong lover, Dorothy Hepworth, at the Slade School of Fine Art
. After further studies in Paris, the two returned to Britain. In 1928, they moved to Cookham
and befriended the artist Stanley Spencer. Spencer became obsessed with the flirtatious Preece, and he showered her with gifts. She persuaded him to divorce his first wife and to sign his house over to her. Preece married Spencer in 1937, but she did not leave Hepworth and refused to have sexual relations with Spencer. She eventually evicted Spencer from the house, and would not grant him a divorce, but continued to receive payments from him. After he was knighted in 1959, she insisted on being styled Lady Spencer and claimed a pension as his widow.
Throughout their lives, the gregarious Preece exhibited and sold the shy Hepworth's paintings under her own name, causing the artist Augustus John
to declare Preece one of the six greatest women artists in England. In later years, Preece traded in antiques. The Preece-Spencer relationship was dramatised in the 1996 Olivier Award-winning play Stanley
.
to an Army officer, James Duncan Preece, and Ada Maude Webb. She had an elder sister, Sibyl (b. 1892), and a younger brother, Graham (b. 1899). By 1911, Preece and her brother were boarding at a school at 76 Weldon Crescent, Harrow County. The school was run by two young women, Rebbie Frewer Wright (b. 1886) and Winifred Isabel Emery (1890–1972), the niece of the actors Cyril Maude
and Winifred Emery
.
Dramatist W. S. Gilbert
, a friend of the Emery family, had an estate nearby called Grim's Dyke
, on which he had a lake, located some way from the house. On 29 May 1911, the 74-year-old Gilbert had arranged to give a swimming lesson in the lake to Preece and Emery. The three met at about 4 pm that day. At the subsequent coroner
's inquest, Preece stated, "I found that I could not stand and called out and Sir William swam to me. I put my hand on his shoulder and I felt him suddenly sink. I thought he would come up again. My feet were on the mud then. Miss Emery called for help and the gardeners came with the boat." The family doctor, Dr W.W. Shackleton, and Dr Daniel Wilson of nearby Bushey Heath Cottage Hospital, certified that Gilbert had died at about 4.20 pm that afternoon of syncope
(heart failure) brought on by excessive exertion. The coroner's jury, meeting on 31 May 1911, recorded a verdict of accidental death. The incident is described in the documentary Metro-land
. Newspapers printed verbatim the statement that she had given at the inquest, and they described her as a "fair-haired seventeen-year-old schoolgirl." Her father was a named mourner at Gilbert's funeral.
A year later, Preece had changed her first name to Patricia. She was at a finishing school
in Lytham St Annes
and became engaged to an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve. She returned to London during the World War I and lived in Kensington with her mother and sister while her father was serving in the war. She sketched fashion illustrations for periodicals, drove ambulances and became involved with the suffragette
movement. Her fiancé ended their engagement.
, where she met a talented artist, Dorothy Hepworth, who became her lifelong companion. With the help of Hepworth's wealthy family, they set up a home and studio together. Both studied drawing with Henry Tonks
. Preece's early work was praised by Vanessa Bell
, Duncan Grant
and Roger Fry
. In the early 1920s, they lived mostly in Paris to continue their art studies, Preece studying principally with André Lhote
. There, they were influenced by the lesbian art world of Natalie Barney
's salon. Upon their return to London in 1925, however, they tried to avoid the opprobrium suffered by open lesbians and often claimed to be sisters. They became more involved with the Bloomsbury Group
, some of the members of which they had met earlier. They spent summer holidays in Wales or Cornwall where Patricia was again rescued from drowning, this time by a local mineworker. Preece had a reputation for happily accepting casual flirtations from admirers, only to reject them when they became more serious. In 1928, Preece and Hepworth moved to Cookham
, living in a cottage purchased by Hepworth's parents. The gregarious Preece signed many of the shy Hepworth's paintings and negotiated with dealers to exhibit and sell the work as Preece's, fooling many in the art world, including the artist Augustus John
, who declared Preece one of the six greatest women artists in England.
In 1929, Preece met Cookham artist Stanley Spencer
and his artist wife, Hilda Carline, while she was substituting as a waitress in a teashop in Cookham. Preece and Hepworth became friendly with Spencer and his wife, sometimes minding their daughters and joining their art picnics. Carline's brother Richard was attracted and took Preece dining and dancing, until he understood the nature of her relationship with Hepworth. The Hepworths lost their fortune in the Great Depression
, and from 1930, Preece and Hepworth were struggling to make mortgage payments. Spencer introduced Preece to his extensive art-world contacts. In May 1933, Spencer's cosmopolitan patron, Edward Beddington-Behrens invited Patricia to travel with Stanley to Switzerland for a commission (Preece spoke fluent French, while Stanley spoke none). In 1933, Preece first modelled for Spencer, sitting for Portrait of Patricia Preece. By 1934, Spencer was concerned about Preece's finances and deteriorating health. He suggested that Preece and Hepworth move into the top floor of his house, but they did not do so. Carline was also concerned about their artist friends but was already suspicious of Spencer's relationship with Preece. Nevertheless, in 1934, Spencer persuaded Carline to paint a portrait of Preece. The resulting image shows both Carline's ambivalent feelings about Preece and the latter's change in demeanour since her more lighthearted days of financial independence.
Soon afterwards, it became obvious that Spencer was obsessed with Preece. Carline spent more time with her mother and daughters in Hampstead
. Preece used her awareness of Spencer's sexual interest in her to manipulate him. Carline later wrote: "She vamped him to a degree unbelievable. … If he went to her house, she always received him half or quarter dressed." He bought her large amounts of clothing, jewellery and other gifts. Spencer's fantasy was to have both Carline and Preece as wives, both inspiring his art. In 1935, Preece accompanied Spencer for a second commission in Switzerland. Between 1935 and 1937, Spencer painted his famous series of nude portraits of Preece. Preece, aware of Spencer's fantasy for her to be his wife, insisted that he must obtain a divorce from Carline before she would marry him. Spencer became convinced that if he married Preece, he would then be able to persuade Carline to join them in a ménage-à-trois.
. Preece and Hepworth, however, travelled together to St. Ives for the "honeymoon", while Spencer remained in Cookham to finish a painting. Carline went to Cookham and, finding a warm welcome from Spencer, she spent the night with him. Spencer explained his idea of a three-way marriage to her, but she could not accept being his mistress, having been his wife. Preece professed to be shocked by his "adultery" with Carline and refused thereafter to have sexual relations with him. Preece persuaded Spencer to sign his house and financial affairs over to her.
Now maintaining two families and three houses, Spencer's finances rapidly deteriorated, and he was sued for debt. Preece continued to live with Hepworth, evicting Spencer from his home in order to rent it out. Spencer fled to London, where his museum friends and art dealer helped him to put his finances in order; he was forced to live modestly for many years. Spencer had two serious affairs but continued to love, and frequently visit, his first wife, until her death in 1950. Spencer attempted to divorce Preece in the 1950s, but she hired lawyers and prevented this. After he was knighted in 1959, she always insisted on being styled Lady Spencer and claimed a pension as his widow. During the post-war years, she also conducted a profitable hobby in trading antiques. Hepworth continued to paint, and her paintings continued to be exhibited under Preece's name.
Preece's posthumous memoir of her life with Spencer (earlier written with Louise Collis) was published by Heinemann in 1972 as Stanley Spencer: A Private View. The painful intricacies of the Preece-Spencer-Carline relationship became the subject in 1996 of a play by the feminist playwright Pam Gems
. Titled Stanley
, it played at the National Theatre
and, later, on Broadway
. It won the Olivier Best New Play award for 1997.
Bloomsbury Group
The Bloomsbury Group or Bloomsbury Set was a group of writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists who held informal discussions in Bloomsbury throughout the 20th century. This English collective of friends and relatives lived, worked or studied near Bloomsbury in London during the first half...
and the second wife of painter Stanley Spencer
Stanley Spencer
Sir Stanley Spencer was an English painter. Much of his work depicts Biblical scenes, from miracles to Crucifixion, happening not in the Holy Land but in the small Thames-side village where he was born and spent most of his life...
, for whom she modelled. As a teenager, Preece was involved in the death of dramatist W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
. While swimming in his lake, she lost her footing and called out; the 74-year-old Gilbert dived in to assist her, dying of a heart attack. She soon adopted the name Patricia and became engaged, but her progressive views displeased her fiancé, who terminated their engagement.
In 1918, Preece met her lifelong lover, Dorothy Hepworth, at the Slade School of Fine Art
Slade School of Fine Art
The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...
. After further studies in Paris, the two returned to Britain. In 1928, they moved to Cookham
Cookham
Cookham is a village and civil parish in the north-easternmost corner of Berkshire in England, on the River Thames, notable as the home of the artist Stanley Spencer. It lies north of Maidenhead close to the border with Buckinghamshire...
and befriended the artist Stanley Spencer. Spencer became obsessed with the flirtatious Preece, and he showered her with gifts. She persuaded him to divorce his first wife and to sign his house over to her. Preece married Spencer in 1937, but she did not leave Hepworth and refused to have sexual relations with Spencer. She eventually evicted Spencer from the house, and would not grant him a divorce, but continued to receive payments from him. After he was knighted in 1959, she insisted on being styled Lady Spencer and claimed a pension as his widow.
Throughout their lives, the gregarious Preece exhibited and sold the shy Hepworth's paintings under her own name, causing the artist Augustus John
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John OM, RA, was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a short time around 1910, he was an important exponent of Post-Impressionism in the United Kingdom....
to declare Preece one of the six greatest women artists in England. In later years, Preece traded in antiques. The Preece-Spencer relationship was dramatised in the 1996 Olivier Award-winning play Stanley
Stanley (play)
Stanley is a 1996 play written by English playwright, Pam Gems. The play was premiered at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in London.-Plot synopsis:...
.
Early life; death of Gilbert
Preece was born in KensingtonKensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
to an Army officer, James Duncan Preece, and Ada Maude Webb. She had an elder sister, Sibyl (b. 1892), and a younger brother, Graham (b. 1899). By 1911, Preece and her brother were boarding at a school at 76 Weldon Crescent, Harrow County. The school was run by two young women, Rebbie Frewer Wright (b. 1886) and Winifred Isabel Emery (1890–1972), the niece of the actors Cyril Maude
Cyril Maude
Cyril Francis Maude was an English actor-manager.-Biography:Maude was born in London and educated at the Charterhouse School. In 1881, he was sent to Adelaide, South Australia, on the clipper ship City of Adelaide to regain his health...
and Winifred Emery
Winifred Emery
Winifred Emery , born Maud Isabel Emery, was an English actress and actor-manager of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She was the wife of the actor Cyril Maude....
.
Dramatist W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
, a friend of the Emery family, had an estate nearby called Grim's Dyke
Grim's Dyke
Grim's Dyke is the name of a house and estate located in Harrow Weald, in Northwest London, England, built in 1872 by Norman Shaw, and named after the nearby pre-historic earthwork known as Grim's Ditch. The house is best known as the home of dramatist W.S. Gilbert, who lived there for the last...
, on which he had a lake, located some way from the house. On 29 May 1911, the 74-year-old Gilbert had arranged to give a swimming lesson in the lake to Preece and Emery. The three met at about 4 pm that day. At the subsequent coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
's inquest, Preece stated, "I found that I could not stand and called out and Sir William swam to me. I put my hand on his shoulder and I felt him suddenly sink. I thought he would come up again. My feet were on the mud then. Miss Emery called for help and the gardeners came with the boat." The family doctor, Dr W.W. Shackleton, and Dr Daniel Wilson of nearby Bushey Heath Cottage Hospital, certified that Gilbert had died at about 4.20 pm that afternoon of syncope
Syncope (medicine)
Syncope , the medical term for fainting, is precisely defined as a transient loss of consciousness and postural tone characterized by rapid onset, short duration, and spontaneous recovery due to global cerebral hypoperfusion that most often results from hypotension.Many forms of syncope are...
(heart failure) brought on by excessive exertion. The coroner's jury, meeting on 31 May 1911, recorded a verdict of accidental death. The incident is described in the documentary Metro-land
Metro-land (TV)
Metro-land is a BBC documentary film written and narrated by the then Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman. It was directed by Edward Mirzoeff and first broadcast in colour on February 26, 1973...
. Newspapers printed verbatim the statement that she had given at the inquest, and they described her as a "fair-haired seventeen-year-old schoolgirl." Her father was a named mourner at Gilbert's funeral.
A year later, Preece had changed her first name to Patricia. She was at a finishing school
Finishing school
A finishing school is "a private school for girls that emphasises training in cultural and social activities." The name reflects that it follows on from ordinary school and is intended to complete the educational experience, with classes primarily on etiquette...
in Lytham St Annes
Lytham St Annes
Lytham St Annes is a conurbation in the Fylde district of Lancashire, England. The neighbouring towns of Lytham and St-Anne's-on-the-Sea have grown together and now form a seaside resort...
and became engaged to an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve. She returned to London during the World War I and lived in Kensington with her mother and sister while her father was serving in the war. She sketched fashion illustrations for periodicals, drove ambulances and became involved with the suffragette
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
movement. Her fiancé ended their engagement.
Art studies; the Spencers
In 1918, Preece enrolled at the Slade School of Fine ArtSlade School of Fine Art
The Slade School of Fine Art is a world-renownedart school in London, United Kingdom, and a department of University College London...
, where she met a talented artist, Dorothy Hepworth, who became her lifelong companion. With the help of Hepworth's wealthy family, they set up a home and studio together. Both studied drawing with Henry Tonks
Henry Tonks
Henry Tonks, FRCS was a British draughtsman and painter of figure subjects, chiefly interiors, and a caricaturist...
. Preece's early work was praised by Vanessa Bell
Vanessa Bell
Vanessa Bell was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury group, and the sister of Virginia Woolf.- Biography and art :...
, Duncan Grant
Duncan Grant
Duncan James Corrowr Grant was a British painter and designer of textiles, potterty and theatre sets and costumes...
and Roger Fry
Roger Fry
Roger Eliot Fry was an English artist and art critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developments in French painting, to which he gave the name Post-Impressionism...
. In the early 1920s, they lived mostly in Paris to continue their art studies, Preece studying principally with André Lhote
André Lhote
André Lhote was a French sculptor and painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also very active and influential as a teacher and writer on art....
. There, they were influenced by the lesbian art world of Natalie Barney
Natalie Clifford Barney
Natalie Clifford Barney was an American playwright, poet and novelist who lived as an expatriate in Paris....
's salon. Upon their return to London in 1925, however, they tried to avoid the opprobrium suffered by open lesbians and often claimed to be sisters. They became more involved with the Bloomsbury Group
Bloomsbury Group
The Bloomsbury Group or Bloomsbury Set was a group of writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists who held informal discussions in Bloomsbury throughout the 20th century. This English collective of friends and relatives lived, worked or studied near Bloomsbury in London during the first half...
, some of the members of which they had met earlier. They spent summer holidays in Wales or Cornwall where Patricia was again rescued from drowning, this time by a local mineworker. Preece had a reputation for happily accepting casual flirtations from admirers, only to reject them when they became more serious. In 1928, Preece and Hepworth moved to Cookham
Cookham
Cookham is a village and civil parish in the north-easternmost corner of Berkshire in England, on the River Thames, notable as the home of the artist Stanley Spencer. It lies north of Maidenhead close to the border with Buckinghamshire...
, living in a cottage purchased by Hepworth's parents. The gregarious Preece signed many of the shy Hepworth's paintings and negotiated with dealers to exhibit and sell the work as Preece's, fooling many in the art world, including the artist Augustus John
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John OM, RA, was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a short time around 1910, he was an important exponent of Post-Impressionism in the United Kingdom....
, who declared Preece one of the six greatest women artists in England.
In 1929, Preece met Cookham artist Stanley Spencer
Stanley Spencer
Sir Stanley Spencer was an English painter. Much of his work depicts Biblical scenes, from miracles to Crucifixion, happening not in the Holy Land but in the small Thames-side village where he was born and spent most of his life...
and his artist wife, Hilda Carline, while she was substituting as a waitress in a teashop in Cookham. Preece and Hepworth became friendly with Spencer and his wife, sometimes minding their daughters and joining their art picnics. Carline's brother Richard was attracted and took Preece dining and dancing, until he understood the nature of her relationship with Hepworth. The Hepworths lost their fortune in the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, and from 1930, Preece and Hepworth were struggling to make mortgage payments. Spencer introduced Preece to his extensive art-world contacts. In May 1933, Spencer's cosmopolitan patron, Edward Beddington-Behrens invited Patricia to travel with Stanley to Switzerland for a commission (Preece spoke fluent French, while Stanley spoke none). In 1933, Preece first modelled for Spencer, sitting for Portrait of Patricia Preece. By 1934, Spencer was concerned about Preece's finances and deteriorating health. He suggested that Preece and Hepworth move into the top floor of his house, but they did not do so. Carline was also concerned about their artist friends but was already suspicious of Spencer's relationship with Preece. Nevertheless, in 1934, Spencer persuaded Carline to paint a portrait of Preece. The resulting image shows both Carline's ambivalent feelings about Preece and the latter's change in demeanour since her more lighthearted days of financial independence.
Soon afterwards, it became obvious that Spencer was obsessed with Preece. Carline spent more time with her mother and daughters in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
. Preece used her awareness of Spencer's sexual interest in her to manipulate him. Carline later wrote: "She vamped him to a degree unbelievable. … If he went to her house, she always received him half or quarter dressed." He bought her large amounts of clothing, jewellery and other gifts. Spencer's fantasy was to have both Carline and Preece as wives, both inspiring his art. In 1935, Preece accompanied Spencer for a second commission in Switzerland. Between 1935 and 1937, Spencer painted his famous series of nude portraits of Preece. Preece, aware of Spencer's fantasy for her to be his wife, insisted that he must obtain a divorce from Carline before she would marry him. Spencer became convinced that if he married Preece, he would then be able to persuade Carline to join them in a ménage-à-trois.
Marriage and later years
After receiving numerous pleading letters from her husband, Carline divorced Spencer in 1937, and less than a week later, he married Preece in MaidenheadMaidenhead
Maidenhead is a town and unparished area within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It lies on the River Thames and is situated west of Charing Cross in London.-History:...
. Preece and Hepworth, however, travelled together to St. Ives for the "honeymoon", while Spencer remained in Cookham to finish a painting. Carline went to Cookham and, finding a warm welcome from Spencer, she spent the night with him. Spencer explained his idea of a three-way marriage to her, but she could not accept being his mistress, having been his wife. Preece professed to be shocked by his "adultery" with Carline and refused thereafter to have sexual relations with him. Preece persuaded Spencer to sign his house and financial affairs over to her.
Now maintaining two families and three houses, Spencer's finances rapidly deteriorated, and he was sued for debt. Preece continued to live with Hepworth, evicting Spencer from his home in order to rent it out. Spencer fled to London, where his museum friends and art dealer helped him to put his finances in order; he was forced to live modestly for many years. Spencer had two serious affairs but continued to love, and frequently visit, his first wife, until her death in 1950. Spencer attempted to divorce Preece in the 1950s, but she hired lawyers and prevented this. After he was knighted in 1959, she always insisted on being styled Lady Spencer and claimed a pension as his widow. During the post-war years, she also conducted a profitable hobby in trading antiques. Hepworth continued to paint, and her paintings continued to be exhibited under Preece's name.
Death and legacy
Preece died, aged 72, in Maidenhead, Berkshire. Hepworth survived her by a dozen years, slowly losing her eyesight, and was sometimes cared for by Preece's sister Sybil from London. She died aged 80 in 1978. Preece and Hepworth are buried together in Cookham Cemetery. Carline had earlier been laid to rest in the cemetery. Spencer's remains were cremated and buried in the churchyard of the church in Cookham.Preece's posthumous memoir of her life with Spencer (earlier written with Louise Collis) was published by Heinemann in 1972 as Stanley Spencer: A Private View. The painful intricacies of the Preece-Spencer-Carline relationship became the subject in 1996 of a play by the feminist playwright Pam Gems
Pam Gems
Pam Gems was a British playwright. The author of numerous original plays, as well as of adaptations of works by major European playwrights of the past, Gems is best known for the 1978 musical play Piaf.-Personal life:...
. Titled Stanley
Stanley (play)
Stanley is a 1996 play written by English playwright, Pam Gems. The play was premiered at the Royal National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre in London.-Plot synopsis:...
, it played at the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
and, later, on Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
. It won the Olivier Best New Play award for 1997.
External links
- http://books.google.com/books?id=_DWM88eiy9IC&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=%22Patricia+Preece%22+1971+Spencer&source=bl&ots=iADp-zCYpa&sig=8PO-Y5bmuViX0xER16WM78ss2zM&hl=en&ei=tRnnTZzSJY2htwePm4HYCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22Patricia%20Preece%22%201971%20Spencer&f=false"Changing perceptions: milestones in twentieth-century British portraiture", by Elizabeth Cayzer, pp. 44-45, Sussex Academic Press, 1999]
- "The rehabilitation of British artist Stanley Spencer", WSWS.org, 20 September 2001