Dora Gordin, La Gordine, Gordina

Place: Liepāja

Born: 1895

Death: 1991

Biography:

Dora Gordine was an Estonian Jewish Modernist figurative and portraitist sculptor. She was born on June 8, 1895, in Liepāja, Empire russe (now Latvia) and died on December 29, 1991, in Kingston upon Thames, Royaume-Uni. Gordine's early career was influenced by the Noor Eesti (‘Young Estonia’) group of artists who favoured Art Nouveau. She moved to Paris and on her third marriage, to Hon. Richard Hare (1907–66), her career expanded to the extent that some critics regarded her as amongst the finest sculptors of her generation. She specialized in portrait sculptures attracting international admirers from the political, social, artistic, literary and theatrical worlds. Her legacy also includes a number of public space pieces. Her latter career was not as prolific or as fêted and Gordine was relatively unknown at the time of her death. Major exhibitions in London in 2006 and 2009 have revived her standing and her former home is now a museum.