Dorothy Brett:

An Inventory of Her Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

Biographical Sketch

Dorothy Eugenie Brett, born in 1883, was the eldest daughter of the 2nd Viscount Esher, Reginald Baliol Brett, and his wife Eleanor. Besides Dorothy, called "Doll" by her family, there were two older brothers, Oliver and Maurice, and a younger sister, Sylvia. The children were raised in a restrictive manner similar to other children of the Victorian era. They saw little of their parents, being largely left in the charge of a nanny and other servants. Once the boys were sent to school, a governess was retained for the girls. However, she was dismissed after a short time and the girls' education was left to their mother.

The girls lived a fairly secluded life into their early twenties. Aside from dancing classes with the royal children at nearby Windsor Castle, under the supervision of no less than Queen Victoria, their contact with young people their own age was practically nonexistent. One friendship that they did make was with Margaret Brook, Ranee of Sarawak, a friendship disapproved of by the Brett parents. Over ten years Dorothy formed an emotional attachment to the Ranee, and Sylvia attracted the attention of the Ranee's son, whom she later married against the wishes of her parents. The parents put an end to Dorothy's visits to the Ranee when she was 23, sending her off to their summer home in Scotland. There, an old friend of the family saw some of Dorothy's drawings and persuaded her parents that she should attend the Slade School of Art.

Dorothy Brett was accepted into the Slade School, on a provisional basis, in the fall of 1910. Fellow students at the time included Dora Carrington, Mark Gertler, and David Bomberg. In the tradition of the school, all students dropped their given names and went by their surnames, and so Dorothy became Brett to everyone but her family and went by that name for the rest of her life. Brett completed the four year program at Slade, winning several prizes and honors in her sojourn there. At the end of her second year, Brett's father set her up in a studio of her own, partly to help her artistically and partly to move her out of the family home in town where the servants had begun to complain about the "goings on" of Brett's artistic friends.

Several important events took place in Brett's life during her school years. She began to develop the auditory problems that would leave her dependent on hearing aids for the rest of her life. She became friends with Gertler,Carrington and Augustus John and, in 1914, she met Lady Ottoline Morrell. In October of 1915 Brett met D.H. Lawrence and his wife Frieda.

Over the next several years Brett spent a great deal of time at the Morrell's Garsington Manor along with members of the Bloomsbury group. She seems to have developed a crush on Ottoline which led to voluminous correspondence but little else. In 1919 Brett's parents helped set her up in a house in Hampstead, London, arranged for an annual allowance, and made a final effort to push her into independence.

In 1923 D.H. and Frieda Lawrence returned to England from North America, thus setting in motion the second phase of Brett's life. Lawrence had been proposing the creation of a community called Rananim for several years without success. He felt that he had found the perfect location for such a spot in Taos, New Mexico, and was now actively seeking members. Only John Middleton Murry and Brett seriously considered the idea and in the spring of 1924, only Brett joined the Lawrences on the Aquatania bound for New York.

Taos became Brett's home. Though she traveled frequently to Mexico, New York, and even made a few trips back to Europe, her roots were firmly planted in New Mexico. She developed a strong emotional attachment to D.H. Lawrence, and after Lawrence's death continued to live in near Frieda for the remainder of Frieda's life. Mable Dodge Luhan, another prominent figure in Taos, also played an important role in Brett's life, alternating between protector and antagonist. In New Mexico Brett painted Native Americans. She was permitted to visit the Pueblo for important ceremonies and then transferred the images to canvas, creating a series of paintings for which she is perhaps best known, the Ceremonials. Her close relationship to D.H. Lawrence made her popular with the researchers who sought to better understand his life. She lived to within a few months of her 94th birthday, dying on August 24th, 1977.

Scope and Contents

Letters received by Brett make up the bulk of the Dorothy Brett Collection, 1898-1968, augmented by a few outgoing letters, two works by Brett, and a sampling of bills, receipts, and royalty statements. The collection is organized into four series, within which materials are arranged alphabetically by title or author: I. Works, 1930, nd, (.5 box), II. Letters, 1922-1959 (.5 box), III. Recipient, 1898-1967 (14 boxes), and IV. Miscellaneous, 1902-1968 (2 boxes). This collection was previously accessible through a card catalog, but has been re-cataloged as part of a retrospective conversion project.

The Works Series contains two typescripts of Brett's memoir of her relationship with D.H. Lawrence, Lawrence and Brett (1933), edited by her in pencil. Also included in this series is an article Brett wrote, also about her memories of Lawrence, titled "Kiowa."

The Letters Series is small, containing one folder of letters from Brett to Dorothy Hopkins and one folder of letters to various individuals. The Recipient Series represents the majority of the collection and includes letters to Brett from people with whom she corresponded about D.H. Lawrence, about her paintings, from other artists living in Taos, and containing friendly gossip in general, as well as accumulations of letters from Ernst Auerbach, Kyle Crichton, Robert Davidson, Esher family members, Mark Gertler, William Goyen, Spud Johnson, Frieda Lawrence, Fania Marinoff, Georgia O'Keeffe, Mae Porter, Leopold Stokowski, and Frank Waters. An Index of Correspondents, arranged alphabetically by name, is located at the end of this guide.

The Miscellaneous Series completes the collection with some of Brett's business papers, including receipts, bills, insurance forms, and shipping forms for various pieces of art. Also included are poems by Dorothy Norman, a typescript of Mabel in Taos by Dorothy Hoskins, letters from Spud Johnson and Mabel Luhan to Dorothy Hoskins, and letters between Brett's various friends and acquaintances.

Restrictions

Access

Open for research

Related Material

Administrative Information

Acquisition

Purchases and gifts, 1968-1969

Processed by

Chelsea S. Jones, 1998

Source

Dorothy Brett Collection--Folder List

Dorothy Brett Collection--Index of Correspondents

Index entries that include the notation (from Brett) indicate that the person is the recipient of correspondence from Dorothy Brett.

In general, the box and folder number are followed by the recipient of the letter(s) and the date of the letter(s) when known. Where there is no number, there is only one letter. So in the example

Anderson, Chilton--2.3 (16 to Brett, 1951-1955)

Anderson sent 16 letters to Brett between the years 1951 and 1955 and they are located in box 2, folder 3.

When a correspondent received as well as sent letters, or sent letters to more than one recipient, the sender and/or recipients are listed beneath the name of the sender and the date or span of dates of the correspondence are followed by the box and folder number. So in the example

• Art News--
• to Brett, 1956--2.2
• to Mae Porter, 1958--16.2

The magazine Art News sent 1 letter to Brett in 1956, located in box 2, folder 2, and one letter to Mae Porter in 1958, which is located in Box 16, folder 2.