Doris Clare Zinkeisen (1898-1991)
Doris Clare Zinkeisen (31 July 1898 – 3 January 1991) was a Scottish theatrical stage and costume designer, painter, commercial artist and writer. She was best known for her work in theatrical design.
Zinkeisen shared a studio in London with her sister during the 1920s and '30s from where she embarked on her career as a painter, commercial artist and theatrical designer.
Zinkeisen's realist style made her popular as a portraitist and she became a well-known society painter. The subject matter of her paintings, society portraiture, equestrian portraiture and scenes from the parks of London and Paris reflect the lifestyle of the upper class at the time. She also worked widely in other media as an illustrator and commercial artist including producing advertising posters for several British railway companies, the London Underground and murals for the RMS Queen Mary.
During the war she worked as a nurse in London. In the direct aftermath of the war she was appointed to work as a war artist. This included three days at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in April 1945. Her painting Human Laundry shows German orderlies washing camp inmates before they go to hospital. Paintings from Zinkeisen's time as a war artist are held by the Red Cross museumand archives, the museum of the Order of St John and the Imperial War Museum.
After the war, Zinkeisen continued to work in London as a theatrical designer and held occasional exhibitions of her paintings. She designed the cover of a special edition of Everybody's Magazine to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1853.