Lucy Carrington Wertheim was born on 4 April 1883 in
Pendleton to
William Henry Pearson, a
botanist and
bryologist, and Annie Pearson. Wertheim was baptised on 17 June 1883 at Seedley Wesleyan Methodist Chapel. Wertheim, with her husband, ran galleries in London, Brighton and Derbyshire and was known for encouraging many young artists and sculptors. In the 1920s she bought many works by
Henry Moore and encouraged
Cedric Morris. In 1930, Wertheim opened her first gallery at 3-5
Burlington Gardens,
Mayfair, London. It has been suggested that it was the artist
Frances Hodgkins who finally persuaded or perhaps goaded Mrs Wertheim to move from enthusiastic supporter of '
modern art' to a fully fledged gallery owner. Wertheim recalls the incident in her 1947 book 'Adventure in Art' - "Frances exclaimed to my husband, 'Your wife should open a gallery for us poor artists: her enthusiasm would make it a success!'...Those words however spoken more than half in jest, sowed a seed in my mind that was to bear fruit later." In the early 1960s she lent works to decorate the then-new and radical
University of Sussex, near Brighton. Those either exhibited at her gallery or supported by Wertheim included
Walter Sickert,
Rodney Gladwell,
Humphrey Slater,
Helmut Kolle, Vivin Hume,
Phelan Gibb, John Bigge and John Banting,
Henry Stockley, Nando Manetti,
Rowland Suddaby,
Leslie Hurry, Isla Rodmell,
Kenneth Hall,
Basil Rakoczi,
John Melville,
Feliks Topolski, Charles Higgins (Pic), David Burton,
Cedric Morris,
Alfred Wallis,
Frances Hodgkins,
Elizabeth Rivers, Mostyn Lewis, Jose Christopherson,
David Gommon,
Kathleen Walne and
Christopher Wood amongst many others. Wertheim was Christopher Wood's main patron before his death. ==Personal life==