Prunella Clough was a prominent 20th century British artist. "Her subjects are closely observed details and scenes from the landscape. The images are combined and filtered through memory, and evolve through a slow process of layering and re-working."

Background

Born on 11 November 1919 in Chelsea, London

Chelsea, London

Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...

 to an affluent upper middle-class family, she was initially educated privately by her father, the poet Eric Taylor, before enrolling at the Chelsea School of Art (since 1986 known as the Chelsea College of Art and Design

Chelsea College of Art and Design

Chelsea College of Art and Design, the erstwhile Chelsea School of Art, is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation...

) in 1937.

Career

Apart from wartime service, she painted full-time until her death in 1999, supplementing her income with lecturing posts at the Chelsea

Chelsea College of Art and Design

Chelsea College of Art and Design, the erstwhile Chelsea School of Art, is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation...

 and Wimbledon Schools of Art

Wimbledon College of Art

Wimbledon College of Art is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London and is one of London's major art institutions. It is located in Wimbledon and Merton Park, South West London.-History:...

 . Clough painted the industrial landscapes of post-WWII

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 Britain.

Her works were exhibited at, among other places, the Leger Gallery (1947), Roland, Browse and Delblanco (1949), Leicester Galleries (1953), Whitechapel Gallery (1960), Grosvenor Gallery

Grosvenor Gallery

The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé...

 (1964, 1968) Sheffield

Sheffield

Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

 (1972), Serpentine (1976), Perth, Western Australia

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 (1974), Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 (1976), Aberdeen

Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....

 (1981), Hiroshima

Hiroshima

is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...

 (1988), and, retrospectively, at the Olympia (2004) and the Tate Gallery

Tate Gallery

The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...

 (2007)

In 1977 she won the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

 Midsummer Prize, and in 1999, the year of her death, she was awarded the £30,000 Jerwood Prize for painting . Significant collections of her work are housed at the Art Gallery of New South Wales

Art Gallery of New South Wales

The Art Gallery of New South Wales , located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia...

, Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall

Falmouth Art Gallery

Falmouth Art Gallery is an art gallery in Cornwall, with one of the leading art collections in Cornwall and southwest England, which features work by old masters, major Victorian artists, British and French Impressionists, leading surrealists and maritime artists, children's book illustrators,...

 and Clare College, Cambridge.

Favourite Quote

"Painting is like throwing oneself into the sea to learn to swim" (Édouard Manet) - often quoted in interviews by Clough

Sources

• Prunella Clough, Banks, R. (Ed.) (2003, London, Annely Juda Fine Art), ISBN 1 870 28099 7