Night club

Jo Brocklehurst, Untitled (portrait of Eryka Isaak), 1995
Jo (Josephine) Brocklehurst (1935 - 2006) studied at Central Saint Martins and began her career as a fashion illustrator. She later focused on portraiture, drawing directly from models at her studio in West Hampstead and in nightclubs and theatres in Berlin, London and New York. Her work documents the alternative subcultures of the 1970s, 80s and 90s that went on to shape mainstream fashion and performance scenes. In the 1990s, Brocklehurst began drawing the fashion designers and performers finding space for experimentation in the fetish clubs of Soho and King’s Cross.

Jo Brocklehurst, Untitled (portrait of Liz de Havilland), 1995
Jo (Josephine) Brocklehurst (1935 - 2006) studied at Central Saint Martins and began her career as a fashion illustrator. She later focused on portraiture, drawing directly from models at her studio in West Hampstead and in nightclubs and theatres in Berlin, London and New York. Her work documents the alternative subcultures of the 1970s, 80s and 90s that went on to shape mainstream fashion and performance scenes. In the 1990s, Brocklehurst began drawing the fashion designers and performers finding space for experimentation in the fetish clubs of Soho and King’s Cross.

Jo Brocklehurst, Untitled (portrait of Betty Blue), 1994
Jo (Josephine) Brocklehurst (1935 - 2006) studied at Central Saint Martins and began her career as a fashion illustrator. She later focused on portraiture, drawing directly from models at her studio in West Hampstead and in nightclubs and theatres in Berlin, London and New York. Her work documents the alternative subcultures of the 1970s, 80s and 90s that went on to shape mainstream fashion and performance scenes. In the 1990s, Brocklehurst began drawing the fashion designers and performers finding space for experimentation in the fetish clubs of Soho and King’s Cross.

Jo Brocklehurst, Untitled, 1986
Jo (Josephine) Brocklehurst (1935 - 2006) studied at Central Saint Martins and began her career as a fashion illustrator. She later focused on portraiture, drawing directly from models at her studio in West Hampstead and in nightclubs and theatres in Berlin, London and New York. Her work documents the alternative subcultures of the 1970s, 80s and 90s that went on to shape mainstream fashion and performance scenes. Brocklehurst began working in New York following an exhibition of her work there in 1983. She took paper and materials to the gay nightclubs of the Meatpacking District, drawing clubgoers like this one. Brocklehurst used neon inks that she could see under the ultraviolet lights.

Jo Brocklehurst, Untitled (portrait of Isabelle Bricknall and Anthony Gregory), 1995
Jo (Josephine) Brocklehurst (1935 - 2006) studied at Central Saint Martins and began her career as a fashion illustrator. She later focused on portraiture, drawing directly from models at her studio in West Hampstead and in nightclubs and theatres in Berlin, London and New York. Her work documents the alternative subcultures of the 1970s, 80s and 90s that went on to shape mainstream fashion and performance scenes. In the 1990s, Brocklehurst began drawing the fashion designers and performers finding space for experimentation in the fetish clubs of Soho and King’s Cross. This portrait is of Brocklehurst’s regular collaborator Isabelle Bricknall, whose collection of steel ‘body armour’ (constructed by Anthony Gregory) was designed as ‘protection’ for nights on the fetish scene.
Content warning: strong language

Jo Brocklehurst, Untitled, 1986
Jo (Josephine) Brocklehurst (1935 - 2006) studied at Central Saint Martins and began her career as a fashion illustrator. She later focused on portraiture, drawing directly from models at her studio in West Hampstead and in nightclubs and theatres in Berlin, London and New York. Her work documents the alternative subcultures of the 1970s, 80s and 90s that went on to shape mainstream fashion and performance scenes. Brocklehurst began working in New York following an exhibition of her work there in 1983. She took paper and materials to the gay nightclubs of the Meatpacking District, drawing clubgoers like this one. Brocklehurst used neon inks that she could see under the ultraviolet lights.

Jo Brocklehurst, Untitled (portrait of Fia Bergsren), 1995
Jo (Josephine) Brocklehurst (1935 - 2006) studied at Central Saint Martins and began her career as a fashion illustrator. She later focused on portraiture, drawing directly from models at her studio in West Hampstead and in nightclubs and theatres in Berlin, London and New York. Her work documents the alternative subcultures of the 1970s, 80s and 90s that went on to shape mainstream fashion and performance scenes. In the 1990s, Brocklehurst began drawing the fashion designers and performers finding space for experimentation in the fetish clubs of Soho and King’s Cross.

Jo Brocklehurst, Ruber Angel (portrait of Isabelle Bricknall), 1994
Jo (Josephine) Brocklehurst (1935 - 2006) studied at Central Saint Martins and began her career as a fashion illustrator. She later focused on portraiture, drawing directly from models at her studio in West Hampstead and in nightclubs and theatres in Berlin, London and New York. Her work documents the alternative subcultures of the 1970s, 80s and 90s that went on to shape mainstream fashion and performance scenes. In the 1990s, Brocklehurst began drawing the fashion designers and performers finding space for experimentation in the fetish clubs of Soho and King’s Cross. This portrait is of Brocklehurst’s regular collaborator Isabelle Bricknall, whose collection of steel ‘body armour’ (constructed by Anthony Gregory) was designed as ‘protection’ for nights on the fetish scene.
Content warning: strong language


