In a Bar, 1943
Elwell made his reputation as a portrait painter undertaking many commissions, including some for the Royal Family. However, it is often in his more private portraits - those done for his friends or for his own pleasure - that his great skill in capturing the character of his sitters comes to the fore. 'In a Bar' shows Muriel Fox, Elwell's tenant, posed on her regular seat at the Beverley Arms Hotel. She was then aged 28 and worked as a cook. Shortly before this portrait was painted Muriel had given birth to a daughter, who has since speculated she might have been tucked up in her basket behind the bar. Muriel's nonchalant gesture and confident gaze show her as an independent woman, very characteristic of the war era.
