Wilfrid R. Addey (1912-1999) worked as a commercial artist for over sixty years, working for Dorland Advertising and Mitchells among other London advertising firms. His work shows the range of products and illustration styles, from aeroplanes and cars, beer and perfume, to satirical cartoons and calendar pin-up girls and is representative of the post war boom in advertising during the late 1940s and 1950s.

This watercolour shows a pin-up girl kneeling on a bed facing right while turning her head slightly out to the audience to look at herself in a mirror which she holds in her left hand. She is shown wearing a white bikini with blue spots. Bikinis first appeared in Europe in 1947 and reportedly created a shock in France when women began wearing them on the beaches. The figure type, with her thin high eyebrows, long eyelashes, defined lips, long face and long willowy body is typical of the 1940s.