Dora Carrington/Pallant Gallery

Was Dora Carrington an entitled, hedonistic member of the Bloomsbury set or a talented artist not properly recognised as she was a woman?

I went along to see her exhibition at the Pallant Chichester yesterday and came away with the latter view.

She was admitted to the Slade – where under ex-surgeon Henry Tonks – Mark Gertler, Nevinson, Paul Nash, David Bromberg were notable alumni but she still won a prize.

The exhibition showcased her talent for portraiture, life, seascape, landscape and flowers with a bold sense of colour and line.

Her personal life was messy.

She was in love with the gay writer Lytton Strachey – and designed two of his homes where he lived with his lover Reginald Partridge – though it seemed a menage-à-trois with Carrington, who dropped her first name.

As Dorothy Squires wittily observed of the Bloomsberries:

“They lived in squares and loved in triangles …”

She was so distraught at the death of Lytton Strachey that she took her own life.  She was only 39.

Such is the current trend towards over-assessment of women artists that there is a risk of doing this to Carrington, but this would be unfair as she was an artist of considerable talent.

Once again the Pallant has put on a well-curated show to reflect this.