At the Pheasantry, London, 1968

 Birgitta Bjerke Crochet clothing | At the Pheasantry, London, 1968

Inside the Pheasantry, London, 1968

Artworks by Birgitta Bjerke

The following artworks were produced by Birgitta Bjerke as a visitor to the Pheasantry, London, around 1968, at the time it was occupied by the Australian artist Martin Sharp and others, including Philippe Mora. Photographic copies of the works were taken by her in 2011 and forwarded in an email to Charlotte Martin and Mora on 26 September of that year. In that email Bjerke stated:

These are the drawings of mine which Bob [Whitaker] documented at that mini reunion we had in LA....... might have been mid' 19 eigthties.???? I remember well when I MADE these drawings, probably 1968?, not sure....... I sat on the backrest, feet on the seat of a chair, to get some height on the perspective, book in my lap and just drew it all free hand !!!!!!!....  two different size Rapidograph Pens...... When I was in London 2006 I walked into the Pheasantry, now a pizza parlor, and ambled up the stairs... trying to even remotely recognize what once was... not possible, but I took a picture... or two of what I presumed to be the stair case.... just then I was 'detected' and in stern words admonished to depart the premises.... so I did and continued.... to try to relocate the Chelsea Antique Market.... which had a For Sale sign on it.... (Birgitta Bjerke, email, 26 September 2011).

The email contains a wealth of information regarding an element of Swinging London which she was fortunate to experience at the time. The circumstances which bought her to the Pheasantry are not known, however it was a veritable hive of countercultural activity.

Birgitta Bjerke, Ibiza, 1968

Martin Sharp photograph by Bob Whitaker (left) and B. Bjerke, Entrance to The Pheasantry, now a pizza place (right), 1968.

There is a colour photograph of Martin Sharp in the same Spaceman cap, smoking a cigarette, in the book Australia in the Making (1971). The above line drawing of the front of the Pheasantry reflects known photographs from 1970 and 1974. The Australian photographer Robert Whitaker was resident in the Pheasantry and had come to England in 1964 at the request of Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles. He and Sharp worked together during 1967-8 on a number of projects, included a calendar featuring The Beatles.

2. The stairway.

3. Coming up the stairs, bathroom door right, kitchen door straight ahead.

The portrait on the wall of the German actor Eric von Stroheim was by Philippe Mora.

4. Looking into the bath room tub full of forgotten, so cold water.

The art on the walls is by Martin Sharp and appears incomplete. Prior to his residency it appears that many of the walls in the building were painted white. This drawing reflects that, and reveals the stage at which they have been worked on. Some of these motifs appeared from 1968 in the series of posters known as ‘Smartiples. They were printed on mylar and published by Big O Posters.

5. Inside window to the kitchen (yellow) as you pass the bathroom.

6. Corridor, kitchen wall left and studio wall right.

7. Kitchen.

8. The studio.. I believe Martin is packing to return to Australia... my yarn Ibiza basket is under the table.

9. Martin & Philippe Mora paintings, Martin's mirror-framed show stacked on floor

10. The room I slept in at the time.... note Eric's guitar case in the bg... same one I sent pictures of to you... there was gold wallpaper with a silver paper circle in it.. so I pasted a smallpicture of nude Eija... maybe taken with fish eye lense, or maybe mirrored in that gigantic silver xmas globe Martin had.... my 2 rolls of her and the Pheasantry are also lost... got one I think... but you know... time erodes...

11. Martin gave me this painting which was immediately stolen from my rented room at Beaufort st. so was the mirror framed one and also "Babe Rainbow"... and the skirt Leonard Cohen gave me from Ulla's shop... I was just hauling out the last stuff so I had not locked... where did I moved to? Probably and perhaps to share with Michael Tickner on 15 Abingdon Rd off the High street. .... that makes sense....He created a restaurant, Parson's on Cromwell rd. Baghdad House was on the corner across from here.... was it not?

12. For the longest time I had the actual painting that was in the wall of this unfinished portrait, where someone actually had started to cover Martin's decore... but that too got stolen from my house here in Colonias. It was in a whole box of treasures I had culled from a trunk in Sweden.... including the remainder of whatever art I had of Martin's... he art was a strong influence on me....

13. Domus magazine, March 1970.

14. Domus magazine, March 1970.

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Birgitta Bjerke Crochet clothing | At the Pheasantry, London, 1968

Last updated: 11 June 2023.

Michael Organ