Dorothy Hepworth began her artistic training at the Slade School of Art in London, graduating in 1919 with a First class honours degree. It was whilst at the Slade that Hepworth met her lifelong partner Patricia Preece. With Preece, a fellow artist, Hepworth established a studio in London. The artist briefly studied in Paris before returning to London in 1925, upon which she became an active member of the Bloomsbury community of artists. Hepworth exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Dorothy Warren Gallery and the Lefevre Gallery in London throughout her career. Her work proved to be very popular, and was greatly admired by Virginia Woolf, Augustus John and Kenneth Clark who all held her work in their private collections.