La tresse

Gerald Leslie Brockhurst (1890–1978) was a British-born etcher and painter best known for his enigmatic portraits of dramatically lit women with a formal pose, set against Renaissance-inspired landscapes; executed in a highly technical style and  which later came to be associated with Pietro Annigoni.

Enrolling at the Birmingham School of Art in 1901, Brockhurst went on to win a place at the Royal Academy Schools in 1907, where he was awarded the Gold Medal for Drawing, as well as travelling scholarships to France and Italy. His exposure to Quattrocento (15th century) Italian art was particularly influential on his own signature style. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1937, before relocating to the US in 1939, becoming an American citizen in 1949.

The women in Brockhurst’s life were incredibly influential as his muses. His first wife Anaïs (m. 1911) was a Frenchwoman whose distinctive features provided the inspiration for many of his early portraits such as La Tresse (1926) (Te Papa 1952-0003-14). He met his second wife Dorette Woodward when she began modelling for him in the early 1930s. The sixteen-year-old quickly became his new muse and mistress; Brockhurst celebrating her alluring qualities and disposition in works such as Dorette (1932) (Te Papa 1964-0001-10).

By the 1920s, Brockhurst had established himself as a printmaker of outstanding calibre. His originality in style and devotion to his female subjects set him apart in an increasingly saturated print market. During the 1920s, Brockhurst’s most lucrative and productive mode of creation was his etched portraits, which he would often repeat in pencil and oil. By 1930 he had turned primarily towards portrait painting, a financially wise decision, saving him from the post-depression collapse in print sales, which affected many others. Brockhurst was so well received as a portrait painter he would often charge up to 1000 guineas for his commissioned portraits; famous sitters included the Duchess of Windsor, Marlene Dietrich, Merle Oberon and J. Paul Getty.

Brockhurst’s legacy lies in his incredible ability to create captivatingly pensive, yet enigmatic and sultry portraits of his sitters. Eye-catching and Italian in their pose, his portraits were hyper realistic and highly detailed. But he was so concerned with formal elements that they had strangely little human expression within them. However, as the subjects confront us with their gaze, unexpected, indeed smouldering psychological intensity ensues.