Helen Lessore

Helen Lessore, née Brook, (31 October 1907 – 6 May 1994) was an English painter of portraits, figures and interiors. She is however best known for her work as an art dealer who helped to promote the work of avant-garde British artists including Christopher Wood and Barbara Hepworth through the Beaux Arts Gallery in London.^[1]

Born in London, Helen studied under Henry Tonks at the Slade School of Fine Art in London between 1924 and 1928.^[1][2] Despite being a prize-winning student, as a woman she subsequently found it impossible to find a teaching position in an art school, so instead became a secretary at the Beaux Arts Gallery in London.^[1][3]

The gallery was owned by the sculptor Frederick Lessore, whom Helen married in 1934; he was 28 years her senior. She took over the running of the gallery after her husband’s death in 1951, sleeping in a bed in the centre of the gallery. Shortly before its closure in 1965 Helen moved to a house in Camberwell, where she was once again able to concentrate on her own painting; many of her later works were set in its interior.^[1][3][4] The gallery’s final exhibition featured the work of Helen’s son, John Lessore.^[4]

Helen was awarded an OBE for her services to the fine arts in 1958. Her achievements as a painter were recognised by a retrospective at the Fine Art Society in 1987, the same year she was elected a Senior Royal Academician.^[a]When a Royal Academician reaches the age of 75, they automatically become a Senior Royal Academician.^[5] But Helen, aged 79, at the time, was not a Royal Academician, and was instead elected directly into the position. Helen died in London on 6 May 1994.^[1][4]

Gallery