Jo Brocklehurst; Portraitist of the London punk
Hyfler/Rosner
The Independent 09 February 2006
Jo Brocklehurst, artist: born London 6 August 1941; died
London c29 January 2006.
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/fragments/fragments-magazine-16.htm
The artist Jo Brocklehurst was best known for her powerful
drawings of punks and the club culture of 1980s London.
Alone as an artist, she succeeded in capturing that very
special moment in the social history of the city; she said
it was by chance that it happened, as many of the characters
she drew lived in squats nearby her home and paraded down
her street. Captivated by their beauty and form, she invited
them in and started to draw.
The results were shown at several exhibitions in London at
the Francis Kyle Gallery, including "The London Drawings" in
1981 and "London Take Two" the following year. It is the
period that she is noted for and she made it her own.
In Elizabeth Suter's drawing class at St Martin's School of
Art in the early 1970s, Jo Brocklehurst was difficult to
miss, a tall figure with long jet-black hair under a
broad-brimmed hat pulled down low (even while drawing). The
look was totally individual, other garments covering her
completely in a kind of romantic fashion. When she raised
her head to see the model, one caught a glimpse of her
incredible beauty. At break-time, students would gather
around to admire the drawings, although she wouldn't say
much, seeming modest and shy. When she left the room, people
would say, in a kind of whispered and admiring tone, "That
is Jo Brocklehurst!"
She said she was born in London in 1941 (although it may
have been a few years earlier) and was educated at Woolwich
Polytechnic and St Martin's, which she entered on a
scholarship at the exceptionally early age of 14. Her tutors
were Freddie Gore, John Minton, Elizabeth Suter and Muriel
Pemberton. Jo was also a gifted athlete, too, and was a
member of the Highgate Harriers, but chose art over
athletics.
After leaving college, she started with commercial art,
particularly fashion illustration, before going on to
explore her own projects. Beginning with an exhibition in
Amsterdam in 1979, Jo Brocklehurst established a reputation
in an unusually short span of time. She attracted
significant attention with her contribution to the explosive
and politically controversial "Women's Images of Men" at the
Institute of Contemporary Arts in London in 1980. She had a
strong affiliation with women artists and was admired by
them unreservedly.
Brocklehurst was always drawing. She never minded being
stuck on a bus for hours in traffic, as she always carried
paper and pens. She drew places, situations, people and
their faces, capturing movement and character with a very
rapid line. She went out each day with the purpose of
drawing, with a subject in mind. Recently she had enjoyed
landscape, and every day, in all weathers, she would go out
on Hampstead Heath. She was a city girl and thought of the
heath as her countryside. She was still doing this very
recently until the cold drove her inside. Her landscapes are
incredibly atmospheric and surprisingly small in format
compared with her famous London punks, which fill the large
page with colour and line, making sensuous silhouettes of
the body.
Her output of work was vast, with shows in Germany, New
York, Amsterdam and London. Experimenting with colour and
the body in movement, social environment, real and
theatrical situations, the drawings are always powerful. Her
drawing style was original, strong and in your face. Take it
or leave it, there it is. I think what it is is gutsy but,
as with all good drawing, with a feeling of a different
reality. That is what draws one in. I admired her commitment
and discipline to draw every day, to keep the flow and
quality of line - difficult to maintain but, nevertheless,
she did it.
It was because of this kind of attitude and passion that, a
decade ago, I asked her to teach our students at Central
Saint Martins and she became a Visiting Lecturer in the
School of Fashion. She was completely generous and
encouraging as a teacher, passing on a unique experience
that will live on through her students, I hope. Jo
Brocklehurst was a tough taskmaster and I would often have
to warn the models of her expectations. We lost a few, but
all said afterwards they were glad to have had the
experience and the results that had come out of it.
She had boys in dresses and feathered masks or not very much
at all. The girls worked just as hard playing out fantasies
for all to draw. She taught the students the traditions of
life drawing, imparting her knowledge from what she had been
taught herself, but allowed them to be inventive and
original, not imposing her own style.
I often thought she lived in a kind of wonderment of the
world, in another dimension - it was natural for her and we
all looked on slightly stunned and just going along for the
ride. I sometimes realised how lucky I was to be caught up
in her spell. Her recent work on Through the Looking Glass
came out of her wanting to return to her English roots after
a period in New York.
What better way to pass an afternoon than in her studio
installation of the Drawing Room, sipping tea from bone
china and surrounded by walls dripping with her take on
Alice, the White Rabbit and the Red Queen? Great fun.
Howard Tangye
geoff...@btinternet.com
1956 and not "In Elizabeth Suter's drawing class at St Martin's School
of Art in the early 1970s," as stated in the obituary. Also, one her
alleged tutors, John Minton died in 1957. These dates make no sense.