Dorothy Shakespear (14 September 1886 – 8 December 1973) was an English artist. She was the daughter of novelist Olivia Shakespear and the wife of American poet Ezra Pound. One of a small number of women vorticist painters, her art work was published in BLAST, the short-lived but influential literary magazine.
Dorothy and Pound first met in 1909 in London, and after a long courtship the two married in 1914. They lived in Paris from 1920 until 1924, and in 1925 settled in Rapallo, Italy. Despite her husband's 50-year affair with Olga Rudge, whom he met in Paris in the early 1920s, Dorothy stayed married to Pound. In 1926 she gave birth to a son Omar Pound, who was raised in England by her mother. By the 1930s she received a number of family bequests, making her financially independent, but lost much of her money by following Pound's advice to invest in Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime.
Toward the end of World War II, Dorothy and Pound were evacuated from their home in Rapallo, and for a period she lived with Pound in Rudge's home. After the war, when Pound had been arrested for treason and incarcerated on grounds of insanity in Washington, D.C., she moved there, visiting daily, taking control of his estate, and staying with him until his release. They returned to Italy in 1958; in 1961 she moved to London, leaving her husband to live out the last decade of his life with Olga Rudge.
Early years Dorothy's parents both came from British Indian Army families. Her mother Olivia Shakespear, born on the Isle of Wight, lived her early years in Sussex and later in London where she and her sister Florence were raised to live a life of leisure.Harwood, 1–7 In 1885 she married Henry Hope Shakespear (1849–1923), who traced his family line to 17th-century East London rope makers and, like his wife, came from a military family. Educated at Harrow, he went on to study law, became a barrister, and in 1875 joined a law practice. The couple's only child Dorothy was born nine months after the two were married.Harwood, 13–16 Dorothy's mother, a minor novelist, was active in London literary circles for much of her life.Harwood, 21–30
From her father Dorothy learned to paint, with the two going to the countryside for regularly scheduled painting excursions.Moody, 83 She attended Hampshire Boarding School and for a short period a Geneva finishing school, after which she lived in her parents' home, keeping herself occupied with water-colour painting, reading, letter writing, and accompanying her mother on social visits. Ezra Pound biographer Wilhelm describes her as a "bright, pert, pretty English girl with a winning smile although some people found her cold",Wilhelm, 16 and Humphrey Carpenter says that she lived a sheltered life before meeting Pound.Carpenter, 105–106
Courtship Dorothy met Pound at her own home on 16 February 1909 when her mother, who had recently met the young American poet at a friend's salon in Kensington, invited him to tea.Harwood, 130–135 Although Olivia was more than 20 years older than Pound, she was a beautiful woman, and influential in London literary society, to whom Pound may have been attracted. But it was Dorothy, a year younger than Pound, who was struck by his presence, writing in her diary on the very day she met him: Listen to it—Ezra! Ezra! And a third time—Ezra! He has a wonderful, beautiful face, a high forehead, prominent over the eyes; a long delicate nose, with little, red, nostrils; a strange mouth, never still & quite elusive; a square chin, slightly cleft in the middle—the whole face pale; the eyes grey-blue; the hair golden-brown, and curling in soft wavy crinkles. Large grotesque eyes, with long, well-shaped fingers and beautiful nails.Carpenter (1988a), 106 Many years later she would tell Ezra Pound biographer Noel Stock that her memory of the visit "was very hazy, all she could remember was that it was winter and she sat on a low stool near the fire and listened".Stock, 60
From her mother, she gained an interest in theosophy and mysticism. With her best friend and cousin, Georgie Hyde-Lees, she joined the Order of the Golden Dawn. Most specifically Dorothy was interested in astrology and asked Pound for his exact moment of birth to prepare an astrology chart. In her notebook she wrote: "You are very broad-minded—too much so. Very artistic. All for colour. Very sensitive—over-sensitive. At a very great turning point in life....you will marry twice & have two children."Tytell, 57
In late 1909 and early 1910, chaperoned by her mother, Dorothy attended Pound's lectures at the London Polytechnic Institute; in June 1910, mother and daughter went to Italy and joined him in Sirmione for a few weeks. Dorothy spent the time painting, becoming enthralled with Lake Garda, as was Pound, claiming it was the first time she had seen color.Stock, 70, 81 She would later write to Pound that the days spent in Sirmione were deeply profound; according to Pound's biographer John Tytell, for the next two decades the watercolors she painted were of that location in Italy.Tytell, 68 Dorothy likely considered herself engaged to Pound after the Italian trip.
Olivia restricted contact between the two after the trip. Days before Pound was to leave for an extended stay in the US, Dorothy wrote him promising to abide by her mother's stricture and exhorting him to follow her lead: "In case I do not see you alone on Wednesday, I take it that during your 'exile' you have been forbidden to write to me?.... if you have promised—don't break your word—don't write to me!"qtd in Harwood, 133 Olivia allowed Dorothy to write a thank-you note when Pound's Canzoni were published—that he dedicated to Olivia and Dorothy—the only instance when she let Dorothy contact him directly. John Harwood, Olivia Shakespear's biographer, writes that Dorothy's lack of resistance seems extreme, even by Edwardian standards; however, he speculates that Olivia's motives were to keep Dorothy's behaviour controlled, whereas Pound's behaviour was ignored.
Engagement The two remained unofficially engaged until 1914, with Dorothy adhering to social convention and waiting for her father's permission to marry.Dennis, 267 In 1911 Pound returned from America and in October formally approached Dorothy's father asking permission to marry her. Pound told Shakespear he had a guaranteed annual income of £200 in addition to earnings from writing and Dorothy's own income of £150 a year. Shakespear refused on the grounds of insufficient income believing Pound overstated his potential to earn money writing poetry. At the same time, Hilda Doolitle arrived from America, believing herself to be engaged to Pound. Walter Rummel, with whom Pound was sharing a room while he waited for his old rooms at Church Walk to be vacated, told Hilda about Dorothy a few days before Pound asked permission to marry Dorothy. During that period Olivia invited Hilda to her home to meet her, and was concerned about the tension between Dorothy, Hilda and Pound, as well as her daughter's apparent obsession with Pound. Olivia continued to restrict contact between the two while Dorothy continued to treat the relationship as an engagement, despite short weekly or bi-weekly supervised visits in the family drawing room.Harwood, 142–145
Throughout the nearly five-year-long courtship, Dorothy and Pound corresponded regularly, filling their letters with gossip about mutual acquaintances such as T.E. Hulme, Violet Hunt, Walter Rummel, Florence Farr, and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska; additionally in their letters they shared trivial incidents, family information, and showed affection for one another. They were separated for long periods each year when the Shakespear family visited friends and extended family (mostly members of the Tucker family) in the country, returning to London only for a few months in the spring and autumn—customary for many Victorian families. Generally young women of the period were expected to indulge in activities such as painting, embroidery and music while waiting for marriage. Dorothy, however, through the influence of her mother, was well read (and quite capable of conversing with Pound who had multiple degrees), knowledgeable in music, and a talented artist.Reynolds, Ann She became a skilled artist and during the vorticist period was capable of conversing easily with artists such as Wyndham Lewis whom she met at her mother's salon.
Marriage Olivia realised her 27-year-old daughter was determined to marry Pound and in 1914 allowed the two to marry although Pound was earning less than in 1911 when he made the first proposal.Harwood, 150 On 20 April 1914, Dorothy married Pound despite her father's opposition—he relented when the couple agreed to a church rather than a civil ceremony.Wilhelm (2008), 151–154 The marriage ceremony took place at St Mary Abbots, Kensington, in the morning with six guests in attendance; official witnesses were the bride's father and her uncle Henry Tucker.Stock, 154 As a wedding present Olivia gave them two circus drawings by Pablo Picasso.
Dorothy and Pound moved into an apartment at 5 Holland Place, with Hilda Doolittle, recently married to Richard Aldington, living in the adjacent apartment.Moody, 249 Hilda was shocked and hurt when Pound married Dorothy, and even more shocked to find he rented the apartment opposite at Holland Place. She and Dorothy were not on friendly terms, with Hilda writing of her, "she is unbearably critical and never has been known to make a warm friend with a man or woman. She loathes (she says) children! However, that may be a little pose. She is a bit addictive to little mannerisms. I don't think she can be poignantly sensitive or she would never have stuck Ezra." When Dorothy came to [?] in the small apartment, she refused to cook—ever. In fact, she never cooked until she was forced to during World War II.Wilhelm, 151 Pound cooked in the larger room and worked in a small, better-lit room. He made furniture for the apartment where they stayed until 1919.
Although Dorothy and Ezra planned to honeymoon in Spain that September, the outbreak of World War I forced them to postpone. Instead they lived with W. B. Yeats at Stone Cottage for the winter, where Pound worked on proofs for the second issue of BLAST magazine.Wilhelm (2008), 154 Of Dorothy, Yeats wrote, "She looks as if her face were made out of Dresden china. I look at her in perpetual wonder. It is hard to believe she is real; yet she spends all her daylight hours drawing the most monstrous cubist pictures."Moody, 252 Poet Iris Barry, writing in the 1930s about the Pounds during this period, describes Dorothy as, "With [Ezra] came Mrs. Pound, carrying herself delicately with the air, always of a young Victorian lady out skating, and a profile as clear and lovely as that as a porcelain Kuan-yin."qtd. in Stock, 195
From her father she learned landscape art, but by 1913 her art showed influences of Japanese prints. Additionally, she was influenced by exposure to artists such as Wyndham Lewis and Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and by 1914 had assumed her own abstract Vorticist style. In 1915, she designed the cover art for Ezra's volume of poetry, Ripostes, and she designed Chinese characters to add to his manuscripts. Her work was simply signed as "D.S." and never exhibited.
To promote the first issue of BLAST, Dorothy walked along Tottenham Court Road holding the magazine.Stock, 162
Paris and Italy