Devoted fans of a pioneering female pop artist are putting up their own blue plaque in her memory after being snubbed by English Heritage.
Campaigners were told painter Pauline Boty, who rubbed shoulders with David Hockney, Bob Dylan and Michael Caine and whose work sells for seven figures, did not have a high enough “profile” so have taken matters into their own hands.
The plaque on a flat in Holland Park, west London, will be unveiled on Saturday by celebrated fashion designer Celia Birtwell who lived with Boty in the 1960s.
Vinny Rawding, who is making a film about Boty and organised the plaque, said he was delighted it will go on a building where she lived and used as a studio until her death in 1966 aged 28.
He said: “I had about four locations confirmed off the electoral roll where Pauline had stayed so basically had shoe leather and just started knocking on people’s doors and got some rejections then I found Andrew Carmichael who owns this property.
“He has lived there since 1972 and he agreed. He saw the value in Pauline’s life and story and art and said he would be happy to put it up so I got lucky.”
Croydon-born Boty shared an exhibition with her contemporary Peter Blake and even had a small part in one of the classic films of 1960s London opposite Caine in Alfie but her reputation fell away after her early death and has only recently started to rise again with her 1962 painting With Love to Jean-Paul Belmondo, a tribute to the French filmstar and heartthrob, selling for £1.1 million - smashing the record for her work which had stood for years at almost half that.
Rawding, who is currently looking for a broadcaster for the documentary which is planned for release in 2023/24 and features contributions from Vic Reeves among others, applied to English Heritage after it asked for more nominations for women with a 2018 survey finding only 14% of the plaques celebrated women.
He said: “The reason why I went to English Heritage was I saw in the Standard that there was a big campaign and I applied but they said her profile wasn’t high enough so we’re doing it ourselves.
“If one person walks along the street and looks up at the plaque and gets turned on to Pauline Boty’s art and story that would be enough, that’s the reason for doing it.”
A spokeswoman for English Heritage said: “We receive up to eighty nominations for blue plaques each year and since we can only install around twelve plaques annually, the shortlisting process is highly competitive.
“We are always happy to offer advice for groups and individuals considering a private plaque and we have a detailed guide on our website.”
