Chef Gallery

Photograph of theatre production with blackface actors and Oliver Howard Horner, ca. 1910

On the proper right side a boy is sitting in a chair. He is wearing a suit and tie. His legs are crossed at the ankles and his hands are on his lap. There is a boy standing behind him. He is wearing a white chef's coat and hat, and is wearing blackface. On the proper left there is a girl sitting in a chair. She is wearing a fancy white ruffled dress. Her dark hair is pulled back and is parted in the middle. Her hands are folded on her lap and she has a bracelet on her proper left arm. There is a girl standing behind her with a striped dress, an apron, and a headscarf. She is also wearing blackface. The boy sitting in the chair is Oliver Howard Horner

© Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Forty-Four restaurant menu, c1955. Creator: Shirley Markham

The "Forty-Four" restaurant menu, c1955. Menu for a restaurant in Harcourt Street, Dublin, Ireland, illustrated with chefs. 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

The Forty-Four restaurant card, c1955. Creator: Shirley Markham

The "Forty-Four" restaurant card, c1955. Card advertising a restaurant in Harcourt Street, Dublin, Ireland, illustrated with chefs. 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