What is the secret of the laughing buttocks? The great British art quiz

Dorich House Museum, Kingston University. Photograph: Ellie Laycock

This quiz is brought to you in collaboration with Art UK, the online home for the UK’s public art collections, showing art from more than 3,000 venues, by 45,000 artists. Each day, a different collection on Art UK will set the questions.

Today, our questions are set by Dorich House Museum at Kingston University, located on the edge of Richmond Park in southwest London – it is the former studio home of the sculptor Dora Gordine and her husband Richard Hare. The accredited museum holds the world’s largest collection of Gordine’s work and an important collection of Russian art and artefacts, acquired by Hare and Gordine during their marriage.

You can see art from Dorich House Museum on Art UK here. Find out more on the Dorich House Museum website here.

1. 

   Dorich House Museum was built in 1936 as a studio home. Who designed the building?

   1. Le Corbusier

   2. Dora Gordine

   3. Auguste Perret

   4. Berthold Lubetkin

2. 

   Who is the young man depicted in this portrait of 1929-30 by Dora Gordine?

   1. Trader Faulkner

   2. Duncan Grant

   3. Richard Hare

   4. Leopold Gordin

3. 

   In which national collection can you find an edition of Dora Gordine's Javanese Head of 1931?

   1. National Galleries Scotland, Edinburgh

   2. Tate Britain, London

   3. National Museum Wales, Cardiff

   4. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool

4. 

   Which famous British actor is portrayed in this bronze portrait head by Dora Gordine in 1956?

   1. Dorothy Tutin

   2. Dame Judi Dench

   3. Deborah Kerr

   4. Celia Johnson

5. 

   Dora Gordine's Seated Baby was commissioned in 1937 for a new Maternity and Child Welfare Centre in Pimlico, London. Which institution acquired her later work, Smiling Baby (1947-8), for its Maternity Wing?

   1. St George's Hospital, Tooting

   2. Kingston Hospital, Kingston upon Thames

   3. HM Prison Holloway (Holloway Women's Prison)

   4. Guys and St Thomas Hospital, London

6. 

   Why was the completion of this portrait head of the art historian and broadcaster Sir Kenneth Clark delayed?

   1. Gordine broke her wrist

   2. Clark became too busy to complete the sittings

   3. The clay head got broken before it could be cast

   4. Gordine and Clark had a disagreement

7. 

   This work, Smiling Torso (Laughing Buttocks), was created by Dora Gordine and Valsuani in 1937-38. Was Valsuani ...

   1. Gordine's studio assistant

   2. An Italian sculptor

   3. A local ice-cream maker

   4. A foundry

8. 

   Who said sitting for a portrait by Dora Gordine was 'far better than being psychoanalysed'?

   1. Freya Stark

   2. John Pope-Hennessey

   3. Laurens van der Post

   4. Dame Edith Evans

Solutions

1:B - Now Grade II listed, the modern studio house was completed to Gordine’s design despite her not having any formal architectural training. Gordine also designed some of the fittings, furniture and light fixtures in the house, including lightshades fashioned from Chinese rice workers' hats. Image: Dorich House Museum, Kingston University, ©Ellie Laycock, 2:C - Hare was Gordine's future husband. She is best known for her portrait heads and figurative bronze sculptures but she also produced many paintings and drawings, both portraits and still life. Image: Richard Hare (1907-1966) as a Young Man, late 1920s, Dora Gordine (1895-1991), © Dorich House Museum, Kingston University, 3:B - Javanese Head was acquired by Tate in 1933, presented by the Hon Richard Hare. Image: Javanese Head, 1930-1931, Dora Gordine (1895-1991) and Valsuani, © Dorich House Museum, Kingston University, 4:A - Tutin (1930-2001) posed in theatre costume for this portrait head while she was playing the role of Hedvig in Henrik Ibsen’s play The Wild Duck at the Saville theatre in 1956. Tutin recalled when she saw the result: 'Hedwig was there, from the centre to the outside ... she [Gordine] worked right through the whole thing. I found that quite startling and amazing ...' Image: Dorothy Tutin (1930-2001) in the Role of Hedwig, 1956, Morris Singer Art Foundry Ltd and Dora Gordine (1895-1991), © Dorich House Museum, Kingston University, 5:C - The Maternity Wing later evolved into the UK's first Mother and Baby Unit. Upon the closure of the prison, Seated Baby was acquired by the National Justice Museum, Nottingham. The sculpture will be on display at Dorich House Museum for the duration of Judy Price's exhibition The End of the Sentence at Stanley Picker Gallery, which reflects on the impact of the criminal justice system on women. Image: Seated Baby, 1932-1934, Dora Gordine (1895-1991) and Valsuani, © Dorich House Museum, Kingston University , 6:A - Clark wrote to Gordine in 1944: 'We continue to wrap my effigy [the head] in damp cloths, so that should you ever wish to complete it, it [the clay] will still be malleable.' Clark went on to write and present the BBC television series Civilisation in 1969. It was one of the few programmes Gordine made a particular effort to watch at a neighbour’s house as she did not own a television. Image: Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (1903-1983), Baron Clark 1931-1933, Morris Singer Art Foundry Ltd and Dora Gordine (1895-1991), © Dorich House Museum, Kingston University, 7:D - From the mid-1920s Gordine had her work cast by the prestigious Valsuani Foundry at 74 rue des Plantes in Paris and continued to do so until 1939 when the outbreak of war prevented her from visiting Paris. Image: Smiling Torso (Laughing Buttocks), 1938, Dora Gordine (1895-1991) and Valsuani, © Dorich House Museum, Kingston University, 8:D - Evans agreed to model for this standing nude figure while sitting for Gordine for a portrait head. Image: Standing Female Nude (Dame Edith Evans, 1888-1976), 1937-1938, Dora Gordine (1895-1991) and Valsuani, © Dorich House Museum, Kingston University

Scores

1. 6 and above.

   Congratulations – you clearly know the secret of the laughing buttocks.

2. 0 and above.

   You tried, but this wasn't your day.

3. 3 and above.

   A decent stab at a difficult quiz.