Elisabeth Tomalin’s boldly-coloured head, elaborately constructed in pastel and gouache facets, was created during her studentship at Berlin's progressive Reimann Schule, where she studied from the late 1920s until 1934. It takes inspiration from tribal masks and enamels, which she studied under noted Professor K H Rosenberg; also studying textile art and decorative painting with Erna Hitzberger. After immigrating to the UK, Tomalin brought both aspects of her training together, becoming a colour consultant at Heal’s and a successful designer in the British textile industry, setting up her own designs in a number of colourways. This process is anticipated in her choice of different colours for the two sides of her subject’s face, hair and background.