We Love Dorothy Hershman!

PREview is honored to present We Love Dorothy Hershman, the first solo show highlighting Connecticut artist Dorothy Hershman after over seven decades of oil painting and mixed media work.

Originally from Philadelphia, Hershman married and moved to Connecticut to start a family. She painted in obscurity while battling severe mental illness, producing hundreds of paintings and textiles that were never shown until the 2024 Outsider Art Fair, where collectors, artists, and viewers alike exclaimed: “We Love Dorothy Hershman!”

Early in her career, Hershman dropped out of the art world of the 1950s. When gallery owners pushed her to paint like the abstract expressionists, she felt the paintings she created for them were lifeless, and she never returned to the New York galleries. She was never interested in exhibiting and selling, choosing her artistic freedom to explore painting about her life, the human condition, and most of all the beauty and power of the natural world. 

In 2024, Elm City Films made a short film about Dorothy, which you can view here.

Dorothy’s journey is one of resilience and creativity. Overcoming challenges that hospitalized her several times, she found balance in life as medications were discovered and refined. She continued creating innovative paintings that were beautiful and profound well into her late 80s. Now, at 93 years old, Hershman will be featured in her very first solo exhibition as PREview showcases nearly two dozen of her breathtaking oil paintings this summer. 

We Love Dorothy Hershman will be on display at PREview every weekend through July 1, 2026.