This lithograph is of Brockhurst?s second wife, Kathleen Woodward, whom Brockhurst called Dorette. They first met when she was seventeen and a model at the Royal Academy Schools in London. She later features in Brockhurst?s controversial 1932 portrait, `Adolescence?, which depicts her sitting naked in front of a mirror. According to a label on the back of the work, `Head of a Girl' was Brockhurst?s first experimentation with lithography and was based on earlier crayon drawing from 1934 titled `Study for Head of Christ?. He made only five more lithographs in his lifetime.
Gerald Leslie Brockhurst (English, 1890 - 1978)
Brockhurst was one of the most technically gifted etchers of his day. He attended Birmingham School of Art from the age of ten and, in 1907, entered the Royal Academy Schools in London where he won several awards. A travel scholarship allowed him to visit Paris and Italy, where the art of the Italian Renaissance proved to have a lasting influence on his work. Although he portrayed many men, he excelled in his portraits of women. His skill and technique enabled him to depict textures such as lace, fur and hair, with a beauty and elegance that subverted established limitations of printmaking. In 1937 he was elected an Academician of the Royal Academy. Two years later he moved to America, where he remained until his death.
