People Portrait Collection at Girton College Cambridge

We’re please to announce that Rebecca Hawkins is now part of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters People's Portraits collection at Girton College, University of Cambridge.

The artist’s sister, Anne Draycott says: 'The portrait of Rebecca Hawkins is one of a number of important portraits which Len (Leonard McComb) produced in the late 1980s and early 1990s and is an excellent example from this period. The portrait marks a transition point from his early work that depicted scenes of nature and his mature portraits that followed. Surrounding Rebecca Hawkins' hair are vibrating lines of energy that can be found in the artist's early iconic landscapes that are symbolic of the energy that connects all living things. The modelling on Hawkins' face shows a complex construction of multiple tones, a technique he went on to develop which forms the basis of some of his greatest portraits. But perhaps the most significant aspect of the painting is the outward projection of the artist's Celtic spirit.Len, born to Irish parents, considered himself a Celtic artist, inspired by the book of Kells, Yeats and Joyce. The model, likely to be a student or colleague as many of his sitters were, has red hair and has a classically Celtic look. She's holding a bunch of primroses, a recurring motif in Len’s work, which is a Celtic symbol of eternal love and is one of the artist's earliest memories of nature. Len's portraits often contained symbolism that at first glance may be difficult to detect.

The sitter wears a brooch that appears to be a head of figure in the style of a Greek classical sculpture. Len was influenced by this period of art history and informed the artist's most well-known sculpture, "Portrait of a Young Man Standing 1962–1982". The sitter has two contrasting earrings, on the left a cross and on the right what appears to be a bejewelled dream catcher. These may have been the sitter's or they may have been introduced by Len. Regardless of their origin, they would have appealed to Len's spiritual interests. Having a protestant father who identified as a communist and catholic mother, he grew up hearing stories of how his mother was stoned in the street for her interfaith marriage.

He had little respect for the power wielded by organised religions and believed in a spirituality that draws upon both Eastern and Western philosophy and pagan beliefs that place nature central to our existence. The subversive use of the cross and dreamcatchers drawing upon Native American culture were significant fashion trends in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This subversion and melding of spiritual belief aligned with his values and he would have enjoyed observing this within a younger generation.

Len did not encompass pain in his work. Although he acknowledged its presence in all his works, he didn’t think it was the work of the artist to portray his own pain, or his own inner struggles, but to find the true beauty in each of his subjects. He said, "if one person smiles when they see my work then my life is accomplished".'