Collection: Gerard Leslie Brockhurst

Gerard Leslie Brockhurst (1890-1978)

Gerard Leslie Brockhurst was a British painter and etcher. He was also a celebrated portraitist, who painted the likes of Marlene Dietrich and the Duchess of Windsor. His etchings of women, many of them modeled by his first and second wives, are much coveted today. He was born in Birmingham to a coal merchant. He showed early aptitude for art and entered the Birmingham School of Art at age 12. He also studied at the Royal Academy Schools and in 1907, he won the gold medal and a traveling scholarship a few years later. In 1919, Brockhurst had his first important exhibition in London, where he returned to live. It was not until the 1920s that Brockhurst began to focus on etching and began his career as an etcher in earnest, which won him success as a printmaker and a portraitist. In 1937, Brockhurst was elected to the Royal Academy. Around this time Brockhurst began a relationship with another woman and his first marriage, already under strain, ended in divorce shortly after. Brockhurst moved with his new wife to New York in 1947, where he was very well received, particularly for his portrait work. He was elected into the National Academy of Design as an associate member in 1951.