Singing

Jacqueline Ayer, Untitled, Date unknown
Jacqueline Ayer (1930–2012) had a career that spanned many creative fields. She began as a fashion illustrator, and later turned her hand to children’s books, textiles and garments, as she worked in New York, Paris, London, Bangkok, Hong Kong and across India. Ayer often used a sketchbook to record her observations and ideas for book narratives and fashion designs. The context for this drawing is unknown.

Jo Brocklehurst, Man in a Green Suit (portrait of James ‘Biddie’ Biddlecombe), 1979
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. Man in a Green Suit is a portrait of performer James ‘Biddie’ Biddlecombe around the time he was performing cabaret at London’s Blitz Club with Eve Ferret. In 1980 it was shown in the ICA exhibition Women’s Images of Men.


