Background
CLARKE, Geoffrey was born on November 28, 1924. Son of John Moulding Clarke and Janet Petts.
CLARKE, Geoffrey was born on November 28, 1924. Son of John Moulding Clarke and Janet Petts.
Clarke was a student of Ronald Grimshaw and attended the Royal College of Art in 1948 after serving in the Royal Air Force.
at Gimpel Fils Gallery 1952, 1955, Redfem Gallery 1965, Tranman Gallery 1975, 1976, 1982; commissioned work includes: iron sculpture, Time Life Building, New Bond Street, cast aluminium relief sculpture, Castrol House, Marylebone Road; mosaics, Liverpool University Physics Block and Basildon New Town; stained glass windows for Treasury, Lincoln Cathedral; bronze sculpture, Thorn Electric Building, Upper Saint Martin’s l.ane; relief sculpture on Canberra and Oriana; three stained glass windows, high altar, cross and candle-sticks, the flying cross and crown of thorns, all for Coventry Cathedral, screens in Royal Military Chapel, Birdcage Walk.Geoffrey Clarke was a pioneer in a golden age of British sculpture and his fearless experimentation with new materials and processes saw him create works that epitomise the vibrancy of the post-war British art scene. He was part of a group of artists including Lynn Chadwick, Regional Butler and Kenneth Armitage who in 1952 was exhibited in the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. They were described by art critic Herbert Read as "the geometry of fear sculptors".
He was commissioned to create the cross of nails for Coventry Cathedral and also worked on three of the nave windows between 1957 and 1962.
In 1965 he had a retrospective at The Redfern Gallery, London and his work is also held at the Tate Gallery. Clarke was made a Royal Academician in 1975.