Dorelia standing, with Hands to Mouth

The present work hails from the series of drawings of Dorelia in a long dress, standing full and sometimes three quarter length, executed between 1908 and 1909 in Paris. Dorelia moves around in these drawings, sometimes draping her arms over her head, or raising her left arm and tilting her head to the right. In the present work she is captured in the act of lifting her hands to her face. In a further set of drawings she wears a headscarf and lifts the heavy skirts of her dress to show her ankle.

John dedicated and gave this drawing to his friend, the artist Henry Lamb. He had fallen passionately in love with Dorelia himself while living in Paris, and at first Augustus deliberately encouraged his infatuation, although it eventually became a bone of contention between them.