Bedroom Gallery

Surreal study, 1952. Creator: Shirley Markham

Surreal study, 1952. Illustration for a poem by TS Eliot. Shirley Markham (1931-1999) studied Graphic Design and Illustration at Central School of Art in London from 1950-1952. The writer, artist, poet, and illustrator Mervyn Peake (1911-1968) was one of her tutors, and her style of drawing was also influenced by other British illustrators such as Edward Ardizzone, Quentin Blake and Edward Bawden. Markham spent time in the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, and also visited Rome, sketching classical buildings. After graduating from Central, she worked as a graphic designer, producing book illustrations, cartoons for comics, menus and programmes. She gave up her promising career however when she got married in 1957. Middle-class women at that time were expected to devote their energies to bringing up children and running the home, and despite her obvious talent, she lacked the confidence to return to illustration. Her portfolio remained in the family attic for many years, but now her work is published here for the first time

© Shirley Markham Collection / Heritage-Images

Be Careful Baby, by Salisbury Field and Margaret Mayo

Be Careful Baby, by Salisbury Field and Margaret Mayo. First produced in England at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, March 1918, then the Apollo Theatre, London, April 1918. A bedroom farce, as indicated by the beds and their occupants. Touring to the Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne, December 1918. Date: 1918

© The Michael Diamond Collection / Mary Evans Picture Library

Deborah Devonshires Carmel evening dress, Christian Dior Haute Couture, Spring/Summer 1953

3474084 Deborah Devonshire's Carmel evening dress, Christian Dior Haute Couture, Spring/Summer 1953, laid on a bed in a guest bedroom at Chatsworth House (photo); (add.info.: House Style: Five Centuries Of Fashion At Chatsworth - curated by American Vogue's international editor-at-large Hamish Bowles - showcasing the history of fashion in the Devonshire Collection.
Deborah Vivien Cavendish (1920-2014) Duchess of Devonshire, English aristocrat, writer, memoirist and socialite. Youngest of the Mitford Sisters.); Reproduced by permission of Chatsworth Settlement Trustees; out of copyright

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