Dora Clarke

Dora Thacker Clarke (1895–1989) was a British sculptor and wood carver.

Biography

Clarke was born in Harrow in Middlesex. Her father, Joseph T Clarke was an American architect.[1] Clarke won a scholarship that allowed her to attend the Slade School of Fine Art. Clarke initially studied at the Slade on a part-time basis for three days each week throughout 1910 and 1911 but during 1915 and 1916 she studied sculpture there on a full-time basis.[2] Clarke first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1923 and continued to do so until 1959. In the early 1930s she was a regular exhibitor in group shows at the Goupil Gallery and in March 1937 had her first solo show at the French Gallery.[1] Clarke's works included bronze castings, memorials and wood sculptures, often of African heads. Clarke also wrote about, and promoted African art.[3] The most notable of her memorials is the panel and medallion tribute to Joseph Conrad at Bishopsbourne in Kent, which was unveiled in 1927.[1]

Clarke married Admiral Gervase B Middleton in 1938 but rarely exhibited work under her married name.[1] During World War II, Clarke was commissioned by the War Artists' Advisory Committee to produce a portrait medallion depicting a serviceman who had been awarded the George Cross.[4] This proved to be the only portrait medallion acquired for the WAAC collection.[5]

Sculptures by Clarke are held in various museums, including the Ashmolean Museum which also holds a 1936 portrait of her by Orovida Camille Pissarro.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Mapping the Practice & Profession of Sculpture in Britain & Ireland 1851-1951". University of Glasgow History of Art / HATII. 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  2. ↑ David Buckman (1998). Artists in Britain Since 1945 Vol 1, A to L. Art Dictionaries Ltd. ISBN 0 95326 095 X.
  3. ↑ Dora Clarke (April 1935). "Negro Art: Sculpture from West Africa". Journal of the Royal African Society. Oxford University Press / The Royal African Society. 34 (135): 129–137.
  4. ↑ Imperial War Museum. "Correspondence with Artists, Mrs Middleton (Dora Clarke)". Imperial War Museum. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  5. ↑ Brain Foss (2007). War Paint: Art, War, State and Identity in Britain, 1939-1945. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10890-3.
  6. ↑ "Dora Clarke (1936) by Orovida Camille Pissarro". Ashmolean Museum. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
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