BRIAN STONEHOUSE M.B.E. (1918-1998), Abbott and Holder, 30 Museum Street, London WC1, until 23rd December

The Checked Dress. Watercolour and gouache with fibre-tip pen on pink paper. Shaped for layout. Signed. For Vogue, circa 1955. Provenance: The artist’s estate. Stamped ‘Stonehouse Estate / A and H’ verso. 24.5×18 inches (irregular). Framed size: 32×25.25

This selling exhibition of forty works celebrates the recently published Brian Stonehouse: Artist, Soldier, War Hero, Fashion Illustrator (by Frederic A. Sharf with Michelle Finamore, Curator of Fashion Arts, Boston Museum of Fine Arts). The museum is where the Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf collection of Brian Stonehouse works is housed.

The Sports Shirt. Charcoal and ink with pastel. For an American fashion magazine, probably Vogue, circa 1960. Provenance: The artist’s estate. Stamped ‘Stonehouse Estate / A and H’ verso. 23.5×15 inches. Framed: 31×21.5 inches

Stonehouse, a young art student studying fashion illustration, joined the Royal Artillery at the beginning of the war but soon became a part of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). He was sent to France as a radio operator but three and a half months later was caught by the Gestapo, tortured, given a death sentence and then selected for slave labour He spent the subsequent war years in three French prisons and five concentration and labour camps, including Dachau. He still managed to continue to draw in some of the camps.

The Yellow Bathing Costume. Watercolour and gouache on tan paper. Shaped for layout. For an American fashion magazine, probably Vogue, circa 1955. Provenance: The artist’s estate. Stamped ‘Stonehouse Estate / A and H’ verso. 21×16 inches (irregular). Framed: 29×23.5 inches.

Whilst at the preparation for the War Crimes Tribunals he fortuitously met an American Major Harry Haller who encouraged him to come to the USA and there he did society portraits. Vogue’s fashion editor Jessica Daves liked his artistic style and as a result of this in 1952 he became the first new fashion illustrator the magazine had taken on since 1939. He remained with them until 1962.

A Well Dresssed Man. Charcoal, ink and gouache on blue/grey card. For an American fashion magazine, probably Vogue, circa 1960. Provenance: The artist’s estate. Stamped ‘Stonehouse Estate / A and H’ verso. 26×15 inches. Framed: 33.5×22 inches.

abbottandholder.co.uk

Brian Stonehouse: Artist, Soldier, War Hero, Fashion Illustrator by Frederic A. Sharf with Michelle Finamore, Curator of Fashion Arts, Boston Museum of Fine Arts

http://www.abbottandholder-thelist.co.uk/brian-stonehouse-vogue/