David Downton at Claridge's
 
  • João, September 2013

    João

    September 2013
  • Catherine Baba, September 2012

    Catherine Baba

    September 2012
  • Stephen Jones, March 2012

    Stephen Jones

    March 2012
  • Laura Bailey, May 2012

    Laura Bailey

    May 2012
  • Antonio Berardi, September 2011

    Antonio Berardi

    September 2011
  • Marie Helvin, October 2011

    Marie Helvin

    October 2011
  • Roland Mouret, Fumoir bar August 2013

    Roland Mouret

    Fumoir bar August 2013
  • Erin O’Connor, March 2012

    Erin O’Connor

    March 2012
  • Jade Parfitt, August 2013

    Jade Parfitt

    August 2013
  • Yasmin Le Bon, March 2013

    Yasmin Le Bon

    March 2013
  • Hamish Bowles, February 2013

    Hamish Bowles

    February 2013
  • Virginia Bates, February 2012

    Virginia Bates

    February 2012
  • Christian Louboutin, May 2012

    Christian Louboutin

    May 2012
  • Carmen Dell’Orefice, November 2011

    Carmen Dell’Orefice

    November 2011
  • Nicholas Oakwell, July 2013

    Nicholas Oakwell

    July 2013
  • Philip Treacy, August 2013

    Philip Treacy

    August 2013
  • Poppy Delevigne, September 2013

    Poppy Delevigne

    September 2013

David Downton has been Artist in Residence at Claridge’s hotel in London since September 2011. The idea was the brainchild of the hotel’s Public Relations Director Paula Fitzherbert and the General Manager Thomas Kochs. Since then, some of the hotel’s most illustrious (and stylish) guests have sat for him. “There was a lot to live up to,” admits Downton indicating photographs of past guests Jackie O, Winston Churchill and Audrey Hepburn lining the lobby. “I wanted the drawings to be of the moment and at the same time to evoke an era when glamour went with gravitas and the world looked better in black and white.” Downton has also been working on a series of drawings using The Fumoir, with its dark, confessional atmosphere and original Lalique glass as a setting. He admits to being somewhat obsessed with the space: “Noon feels like midnight and midnight can stretch until noon.”