A keen observer of contemporary life, Flora Twort (1893 – 1985) drew inspiration from her surroundings, and her commitment to drawing was central to her work.
Flora Twort: Draw from Life will include rarely-seen early life-drawing sketches from Twort’s time as a student at the Slade School of Fine Arts in 1920, as well as pages from her sketchbooks that she drew in throughout her life. Many of Twort’s watercolour paintings and pastel drawings, especially her portraits, were commissioned and purchased by local people, but her work was also appreciated by a wider audience. She regularly showed at the Royal Academy between 1927 and 1950 and the New English Art Club. She held a solo exhibition at the Gieves Gallery, London, in 1931, joined the Society of Women Artists and had her paintings reproduced in the London Illustrated News.
Twort led a full and creative life. Shortly after arriving in Petersfield in 1917, Twort established a studio on the first floor of No. 1 The Square. Twort ran The Petersfield Workshop and Bookshop on the ground floor together with Hester Wagstaff and Marie Brahms. She was part of a circle of artists and writers who regularly visited the bookshop and was a founding member of the Petersfield Arts and Crafts Society and later set up the Church Path Sketch Club at her home.
Petersfield, its people and the surrounding landscape inspired Twort for over six decades, during which she produced an extensive body of work. Today, the Flora Twort Art Collection includes more than 1,000 paintings, drawings, sketchbooks, photographs, letters and source materials. This exhibition focuses on Twort’s exceptional drawing skills and her commitment to drawing from life.