Doris Zinkeisen
1898-1991
Emile Aymoz, Chef at the Dorchester, 1938
1938
Oil on Canvas
127 × 101.6 cm. (50 × 40 in.)
Signed and dated lower right: "Doris Zinkeisen / 1938"
Provenance:
The Artist;The Dorchester Hotel, London, England;
Private Collection, Studio City, California;
Phil Scully, Beverly Hills, California (acquired circa 1970);
Private Collection, Culver City, California.
Exhibition History:
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, untraced – label verso.
Further information:
Emile Aymoz was a great classical French chef who held the title of Maitre Chef de Cuisines at The Dorchester. This luxury London Hotel overlooking Hyde Park, opened its doors on April 18, 1931. Emile joined the staff in May of 1936, after having come out of retirement from his home in France. He returned to France when the war broke out, and ceased work atthe Dorchester in September of 1939.
Marjorie Vaughan Lee was hired in May of 1938 as Chief of the Press Office at the Dorchester Hotel. This portrait of Emile Aymoz was commissioned by her Public Relations Officer, who was a personal friend of the artist. The painting was used for publicity purposes at that time.
Doris Zinkeisen, a medal winner at the Paris Salon, was a painter of high society and equestrian portraiture, which reflected the lifestyle of the upper class at the time. She also worked widely as a theatrical designer, illustrator and World War II artist. The RMS Queen Mary, now permanently moored in Long Beach, California, features her murals which decorate the exclusive Verandah Grill on this historic transatlantic oceanliner.
