Description
λ DORA GORDINE (ESTONIAN 1895-1991), MARY VERA HEPWORTH NÉE HOPKIN λ DORA GORDINE (ESTONIAN 1895-1991)MARY VERA HEPWORTH NÉE HOPKINBronze with green patina Signed and numbered 1/253.5 x 2cm (21 x 0¾ in.)Provenance:Direct from the artist, sculpture for Mary's 21st birthday Thence by descent to the present owner The sitter depicted in the present lot is Mary Vera Hepworth née Hopkin. She was born in Bangkok, Thailand on 20 September 1918. Her father was Harry 'Hoppy' Hopkin, then a journalist on the Straits Times, Singapore, and her mother was Nadia, a dancer, born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Mary's grandfather, Engel, was a tailer in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia and was responsible for the clothes worn by the workers responsible for the construction of the Trans Siberian Railway. Many of his co-workers were circus people and taught Engel and his family a whole range of circus skills. Following the completion of the railway the group of worker's including Engel and his family decided to travel to Shanghai to become street entertainers. After touring with Colonel Phyllis and his circus across China, Vietnam and Laos the family decided to buy a hotel, King Chulalonghorn himself becoming a habitué, as did the Sultan of Johore. Nadia and her sisters danced for the King at his Palace and were paid in gold. So when Hoppy, Mary's father walked in to the hotel, one day, on the lookout for a new story and his gaze fell on a dancing Nadia, he was struck. They were married, and had two girls, Nadia and Mary.Eventually Mary joined the Straits Times, to edit the society page, under the pen name Vera Ardmore - Ardmore being the name of the flats in which they lived. She had already met Dora as Hoppy had introduced Dora to Nadia as he thought her Russian/Ukrainian background would be of interest to her, and they all became friends. Some years later Hoppy came to London to join the Daily Mail as foreign editor. Dora heard of it and proposed they take the vacant house beside her newly built studios in Kingston which they did and was how and why, for a 21 birthday present, Dora sculpted Mary's nude figure. Mary married Joseph Bulmer Hepworth on 27th June 1947, who was the grandson of Joseph Hepworth who founded the nationwide tailoring company Hepworths, whose trading name changed to NEXT in 1990.
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λ DORA GORDINE (ESTONIAN 1895-1991), MARY VERA HEPWORTH NÉE HOPKIN λ DORA GORDINE (ESTONIAN 1895-1991)MARY VERA HEPWORTH NÉE HOPKINBronze with green patina Signed and numbered 1/253.5 x 2cm (21 x 0¾ in.)Provenance:Direct from the artist, sculpture for Mary's 21st birthday Thence by descent to the present owner The sitter depicted in the present lot is Mary Vera Hepworth née Hopkin. She was born in Bangkok, Thailand on 20 September 1918. Her father was Harry 'Hoppy' Hopkin, then a journalist on the Straits Times, Singapore, and her mother was Nadia, a dancer, born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. Mary's grandfather, Engel, was a tailer in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia and was responsible for the clothes worn by the workers responsible for the construction of the Trans Siberian Railway. Many of his co-workers were circus people and taught Engel and his family a whole range of circus skills. Following the completion of the railway the group of worker's including Engel and his family decided to travel to Shanghai to become street entertainers. After touring with Colonel Phyllis and his circus across China, Vietnam and Laos the family decided to buy a hotel, King Chulalonghorn himself becoming a habitué, as did the Sultan of Johore. Nadia and her sisters danced for the King at his Palace and were paid in gold. So when Hoppy, Mary's father walked in to the hotel, one day, on the lookout for a new story and his gaze fell on a dancing Nadia, he was struck. They were married, and had two girls, Nadia and Mary.Eventually Mary joined the Straits Times, to edit the society page, under the pen name Vera Ardmore - Ardmore being the name of the flats in which they lived. She had already met Dora as Hoppy had introduced Dora to Nadia as he thought her Russian/Ukrainian background would be of interest to her, and they all became friends. Some years later Hoppy came to London to join the Daily Mail as foreign editor. Dora heard of it and proposed they take the vacant house beside her newly built studios in Kingston which they did and was how and why, for a 21 birthday present, Dora sculpted Mary's nude figure. Mary married Joseph Bulmer Hepworth on 27th June 1947, who was the grandson of Joseph Hepworth who founded the nationwide tailoring company Hepworths, whose trading name changed to NEXT in 1990.
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