• This image is an original 1931 color lithograph titled "Mr. Charles Cochran" by the celebrated English caricaturist, essayist, and parodist Max Beerbohm. Presented with a hand written note (reproduced) from Beerbohm relating to the caricature.

    Context and Creation

    • The Portfolio: This piece is one of five large color plates from Beerbohm's limited-edition portfolio, Heroes and Heroines of "Bitter Sweet", published in London in 1931 by Leadlay Ltd. [1, 2]
    • The Connection: The subject, Sir Charles Blake Cochran, was a highly influential British theatrical manager and impresario. He produced the hit 1929 three-act operetta Bitter Sweet, written by Noël Coward. [1, 2, 3]
    • The Commission: Cochran personally commissioned Beerbohm to create caricature portraits of himself, Coward, and the lead stage actors in their respective roles to celebrate the production


    Style and Technique

    The artwork showcases Beerbohm's signature style: a deceptively simple, fine-line ink drawing filled with muted watercolor wash tones. It features his characteristic exaggeration of the subject's posture and expressions, showing Cochran in a pale teal pinstripe double-breasted suit leaning against a desk


    Many of the writers whom Beerbohm held in highest esteem in the 1920s were gay men. These included the Bloomsbury-connected Lytton Strachey and E.M. Forster. 
  • The image is 9x13