Margot Hamilton Hill.
England. [c.1967.] Ink and pencil drawing to ivory paper, occasional white corrections and accents, label with page and date indication applied to top left corner; pasted to light brown board. Drawing size - 525 x 403mm; board size - 585 x 475mm. English. 525 x 403mm. 1kg. . Very good; slight waviness to surface, occasional pencil marks to show working design; remains of tape to verso of board.
Margot Hamilton Hill (later Daniels) was an illustrator, theatre designer, and lecturer on the history of fashion and theatre design. The present ink drawing is a working illustration for the book The Evolution of Fashion. Pattern and Cut from 1066 to 1930, co-written by Hill and Peter A. Bucknell and published by Batsford in 1967. Hill provided 56 full-page drawings for the book, each one depicting accurate trends in male and female historical dress against an appropriate period backdrop. This drawing is reproduced in a reduced-scale on page 39 of the book, titled '1420 Henry V'. It illustrates a man and woman, both with 'houppelande', belt and elaborate head dress. The couple are placed in front of a cloth screen, with bench, book and dog. Hill's working methods can be clearly seen in the artwork; her figures have been cut out and placed onto a new sheet with the background, and white paint has been used for corrections. All 56 drawings, including this work, were exhibited at a selling exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery, London in November 1967.
