Artist profile
Prunella Clough
Prunella Clough is widely appreciated as one of the most significant British artists of the post-war period. Clough’s work is distinctive and private and yet always responsive to what was going on around her – artistically and visually.
Her work consists of paintings, collages, drawings and reliefs and they demonstrate the characteristic development of her work through her various influences – notably cubism and European abstraction. Her abstract works often use bright, contrasting colours and sometimes found objects. They reveal her continual and personal preoccupation with formal qualities – composition, colour and texture - and her delight in the edginess and abstraction of everyday objects and experiences.
Prunella Clough was born in London in 1919 – she studied at Chelsea School of Art and during the war worked as a draughtsman of maps and charts. She was a highly influential artist and teacher to the post-war generation. In 1999, three months before her death, she won the prestigious Jerwood painting prize. In 2007 she had a major exhibition at the Tate Gallery, London.
Biography
- 1919
- Born in Chelsea, London. Her father worked for the Board of Trade and her aunt was the architect designer Eileen Gray
- 1937
- Attended Chelsea School of Art (part-time). Studied design, life drawing and sculpture (where Henry Moore was a tutor)
- 1939–45
- Worked in Office of War Information (USA) drawing charts and maps and working on magazine layouts
- 1946–49
- Studied with Victor Pasmore at Camberwell School of Art (part-time)
- 1956–69
- Taught part-time at Chelsea School of Art
- 1966–97
- Taught part-time at Wimbledon School of Art
- 1999
- Awarded Jerwood Painting Prize
- 1999
- Died 26 December in London
Selected exhibitions
- 2017
- Prunella Clough, Annely Juda Fine Art, London
- 2016
- Unknown Countries, Jerwood Gallery, Hastings
- 2015
- Prunella Clough, Osborne Samuel, London
- 2012
- Painting, Relief, Collage and Drawing, Annely Juda Fine Art, London
- 2009
- 50 Years of Making Art, Annely Juda Fine Art, London
- 2007–08
- Tate Britain, London: touring to Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Norwich; Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal
- 1999–2001
- University of Essex, Colchester. Arts Council exhibition touring to Peter Muni Arts Centre, Pontypridd; Glynn Vivien Art Gallery, Swansea; Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster; Ropewalk Contemporary Art and Craft Centre, Barton upon Humber; Plymouth City Museum
- 1996
- Camden Arts Centre, London: touring to Oriel 31, Newtown, Powys
- 1982
- Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
- 1976
- Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh: touring to Serpentine Gallery, London