Collections Online

Clarke, Geoffrey [R.A] (Elected ARA: 24 April 1970 Elected RA: 9 December 1975 Category of Membership: Sculptor Geoffrey Clarke studied at Preston School of Art from 1940 to 1941 and at Manchester School of Art from 1941 to 1942 before serving in the War with the RAF. He returned to his studying at Lancaster and Morecambe School of Arts and Crafts from 1947 to 1948, before attending the Royal College of Art in 1948, where he remained until 1952. In 1951 he was awarded a Royal College Travelling Scholarship and also received the silver medal at the Milan Triennale for a collaboration with Robin Day, the furniture designer. He returned to the Royal College from 1968 to 1973, where he was Head of Light Transmission and Projection Department. Clarke’s first solo show was held at Gimpel Fils Gallery, London, in 1952, the same year in which his work was included in the Venice Biennale. In 1965 he had a retrospective at the Redfern Gallery, London and his work was included in 'British Sculpture' in the 1960s exhibition at the Tate Gallery. Similarly, he was selected for 'British Sculptors ‘72’, at the Royal Academy of Arts and for 'British Sculpture in the Twentieth Century', at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1981. Most of Clarke’s work is commission-based, cast in a foundry in a barn at his home in Suffolk. Major commissions 1952 Iron Sculpture for Time-Life Building, Bond Street 1952-56 Nave windows for Coventry Cathedral 1958 Silver cross and candlesticks for Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths Bronze sculpture 23.5m high for Thorn House, Upper St Martin’s Lane Tapestry 6 x 3m for Palace, Kuwait 1959 Relief measuring 93m2 Extraction and Refining of Oil for Castrol House, Marylebone Road 1960 Four stained glass windows for Treasury, Lincoln Cathedral 1961 Open-cast reliefs for the liners Canberra and Oriana Stained glass window and aluminium relief for Civic College, Ipswich Free-standing sculpture for Sir Basil Spence’s house at Beaulieu 1962 Consecration of Coventry Cathedral (Clarke had made three of the nave windows, High Altar Cross and Candlesticks, Cross and candlesticks for the Undercroft, Crown of Thorns and Flying Cross). Altar Rail and Candlesticks for Chichester Cathedral Sculpture for Bishop Otter College, Chichester Steel and aluminium sculpture for Physics Department, Newcastle University 1967 Two large sculptures, Triunii and Uniforge for the Federal Land Bank, St Paul, Minnesota 1973 Medals commissioned by the Department of the Environment on the theme ‘Plant a tree in ’73’ as prizes for schools involved in the planting project 1976 Font and altar for All Souls Church, Langham Place, London 1982 Stained glass panels for Majlis in Abu Dhabi Torigenus sculpture for York House, Pentonville Road, London 1985-86 Medal entitled Pyramus and Thisbe commissioned by the British Medal Society. Recent solo exhibitions 2003 Fine Art Society, London 2000 Fine Art Society, London (Retrospective 1949-2000) Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths of London 1999 Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and tour Jesus College, Cambridge 1994/95 Christchurch Mansion, Ispwich and tour (solo exhibition) 1994 Royal Academy of Arts, Friends’ Room (solo exhibition) Gravelines, Musée du Dessin et de l’Estampe Originale 1990 Bar Convent, York British Museum, London Public collections Arts Council of Great Britain Tate Gallery, London Victoria & Albert Museum, London)