Dora Holzhandler was born in Paris in 1928 of emigre Jewish/Polish parents. In 1934 the family moved to London. She returned to Paris at the age of 17 to study at the Sorbonne. In 1948 she became a student at the Anglo-French Art Centre in St Johns Wood, London, where she met and married a fellow student, George Swinford, and settled in Hampstead.

In an exhibiting career that began in 1949, Dora Holzhandler has shown her work at many venues in London, Bath, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. Abroad, her 'naive' paintings been seen widely in France, the Netherlands, Finland and the USA. She has strong connections with Cornwall, having spent the winter of 1975/76 living in St Ives, and remains a frequent visitor to the county. Recently an exhibition of her work was held at the Great Atlantic Gallery, Falmouth.