Jocelyn

The photographer was keen for this portrait to be taken outdoors and the gardens of Jocelyn’s sheltered accommodation was as far as she could walk at this time. Jocelyn Gamble (1934-2022) attended the Berkhamsted Foundling Hospital School and recalled feeling secure at the School, a contrast to her unsettled time with a range of different foster families. She went on to work at several different arts organisations including the Royal Opera House and the National Theatre, before working at the Institute of Psychoanalysis and the Tavistock Clinic.

Foundling Portraits Project

In summer 2021, the Museum commissioned photographic portraits of five former Foundling Hospital pupils: Ruth Amberly, John Caldicott, Lydia Carmichael, Jocelyn Gamble and Henry Grainger. They represent the last generation of pupils who entered the care of the Hospital in the 1930s and 1940s. Reflecting their importance, and to parallel the calibre of the eighteenth-century artists who donated their works to help the children, five exceptional photographers undertook the commission. They were Jillian Edelstein, Mahtab Hussain, David Moore, Ingrid Pollard and Wolfgang Tillmans. A further double portrait of Sylvia Copestake and Pamela McMurtry, by Eileen Perrier, was added the following year.

This portrait, like the other five, is the result of a reflective, enriching and creative partnership, formed between artist and sitter. Each offers a glimpse of the remarkable spirit and vitality that continues to inspire young care-experienced people today.

About the artist

Ingrid Pollard works across a range of media including print-making, sculpture, film and photography. She has participated in several group shows and curated Tradewinds2007 an international residency exhibition project with an exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands. In early 2022 Pollard had a solo exhibition at MK Gallery, for which she was short-listed for the Turner Prize.

See more about the Portraits Commission
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Did you know...

Portrait of Thomas Coram

The portrait of Coram, donated by its maker Hogarth, was the first artwork to enter the collection.

Find out more