Cora Gordon

Born Cora Josephine Turner in Buxton, England, she was an English artist, writer, and musician who is often remembered alongside her husband, Jan Gordon. She studied art at the Slade, and the two became known for a creative partnership that stretched across painting, printmaking, journalism, and travel writing.

Together, Jan and Cora Gordon produced illustrated travel books and articles that helped popularize a lively, personal style of travel writing between the wars. Their books drew on long journeys through Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, mixing sketches of places and people with the perspective of working artists.

Cora Gordon's career was wider than travel writing alone: she also exhibited as an artist and wrote for art publications. That mix of visual imagination and first-hand experience gives her work its appeal today, making it feel both informative and warmly human.