§ DEREK CLARKE M.B.E., R.S.A. (BRITISH b.1912-d.2014) ROCKFALL - 1978 Signed and dated lower right, watercolour (56cm x 75cm (22in x 29.5in)) Footnote: Exhibited: 'Derek Clarke: Watercolours; Sutherland and the Lake District', The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Derek Clarke studied at the Slade School of Art. He lived in the west of Ireland both before and after the Second World War. Clarke also taught at Edinburgh College of Art between 1947 and 1978, supplementing his income by painting portraits. This sign, dated 1968 is for the Ind Coope brewery, in operation from 1799. The brewery became part of Allied Breweries in 1961. Artist: DEREK H CLARKE (ENGLAND, 1912-2014) Condition: Very good Created: 1968 Frame: No frame Medium: Oil on board Signature: Signed lower right "Derek H Clarke Title: DOUBLE SIDED BREWERY SIGN Work Size: 38.25" x 43.5" Condition: Very Good Dimensions: 38 - 1/4" x 43 - 1/2".
[§] DEREK CLARKE M.B.E., R.S.A., R.S.W. (SCOTTISH 1912-2014) A CARRIAGE AND FOUR WITH A CROWD OF ONLOOKERS ON A FROZEN RIVER Signed and dated 1954, oil on canvas 67cm x 122cm (26.5in x 48in)
Derek Clarke RWS RSA (1912-2014)Palm SundayOil on board, 44.5 x 34.5cm (17½ x 13½'')Signed and dated (19)47; signed and inscribed with title versoA number of exhibition labels verso, including one for Cambridgeshire Educational Committee
DEREK CLARKE (1912-2014): GADARENE SWINE Oil on canvas, 1943, signed ''Derek Clarke'' and dated lower right. 37 x 48 1/2 in., 46 1/2 x 58 in. Provenance: The artist. Note: The Miracle of the Gadarene Swine, also known as the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac, is one of the miracles attributed to Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus is shown exorcising demons from a man into a heard of swine who then run down a hill into a lake and drown. The town of Gadara was located southeast of Lake Galille where this story was to have taken place. The town of Gerasa was located further inland. The differing geographical references in the story have social and economic explanations linking each city with varying historical and biblical interpretations.
Derek Clarke RSA, British b.1912- Portrait of Elizabeth Joseph (1909-1978) seated in a garden with a book; oil on canvas, signed and dated 1947, 60.8x50.8cm, (unframed) Provenance: Derek Clarke served with the brother of the sitter Stephen Joseph in the DLI in Wand, whom was the uncle of the previous owner. The lot is now being sold on behalf of Oxfam Note: Born on 31st December 1912 at Longthorpe, Peterborough, Derek Clarke studied at the Slade School of Art. He lived in Western Ireland both before and after World War II where, inspired by the landscape and people of Connemara, he produced a significant amount of work. Derek Clarke taught at Edinburgh College of Art between 1947 and 1978, supplementing his income by painting portraits. He can count Elizabeth Blackadder and John Bellany among his students. In 1989 he was made an Associate of the RSA and in 2005 attained full Academician status. Working in the figurative tradition, frequent subjects include landscape and portraiture.
Derek Clarke RWS RSA (b.1912) Connemara family Oil on canvas, 91.5 x 122cm (36 x 48'') Signed and dated 1946 Exhibited: The Royal Hibernian Academy, London 1947, Cat. No. 335; The Royal Scottish Academy 1948; ''Derek Clarke - Paintings and Drawings in Connemara 1938, 1939, 1946'' Exhibition, The Frederick Gallery, September 2004, Cat. No. 41, where purchased by current owner Derek Clarke wrote for the Frederick Gallery about his time in Ireland and how this painting came about: ''I am one of those artists who, having completed their Art School training by 1935, only had four years in which to establish themselves before war put an end to their careers - in many cases forever. In those days there were few travelling scholarships bursaries or prizes: those who could went off to Paris to further their development. My main influences were Cézanne and Van Gough, but I had no desire to be an adherent of any art movement. Instead I wished to find out whether I had a voice of my own. In 1937 I was in Ireland, carrying out commission portraits in Co. Tipperary and Co. Donegal. My patrons suggested that the place I was seeking might very well be Connemara, and a visit was arranged. The following year I set off on my bike across Ireland, travelling over the Burren to Galway, then along the coast road until I came across the village where the greatest number of red petticoats could be seen among the white or blue-washed houses, Rossaveel. Surely this must be the heart and centre of the Gaeltacht! The lodgings in which I settled provided a room in which to paint, but I was deprived of this facility on the arrival of a young man, Brian MacLochlainn, sent by the Irish Folklore Commission to discover whether there were any seanachaís (Gaelic storytellers) still in the district. He was a great help to me. I accompanied him on his evening sessions, equipped with his clockwork waxed drum recorder. Next day he would write the stories out in longhand, explaining obscure passages and obsolete words. He suggested that I would be considered very stand-offish if I went knocking on people's doors. So this set a pattern of my visiting. I would enter their houses, out would come The Chair and be dusted for me; I would decline and sit on the bench or stool. There ensued lengthy apologies that I regretted I had no Irish, and that they had no English. None of the children had any English, but usually some older person could speak it, having returned from America to get married or to claim some property. Then I would ask them whether I might make a drawing of them or their children. Apart from the women's paisley shawls, all clothes were made in the village; wool was carded and spun in the cottages, woven by the village weaver into all-purpose cloth, and made into clothes by the village tailor. All the young children wore the petticoat and had cropped heads with a small fringe or forelock. I was given to understand that the inability to tell the difference between the girls and the boys was to safeguard against losing the boys for changelings. When the children first went to school the mother was given 'the boot money', but the children continued to pad to school on their beautifully shaped feet. The older boys wore knickerbocker suits, and the older lads, like the men folk, wore the banín, a coat without lapels or buttons, made from white wool. After Christmas I moved to nearby Carraroe, where I was given a large white-washed bedroom and my own turf fire. So at last I had the facilities to do more painting. Unfortunately war was declared in September of that year. Having been wounded in Tunisia during the war, I was fortunate to be given a whole year's sick leave, which gave me the opportunity to do some painting based on my Connemara experience. In 1946 I returned to Carraroe with my wife, and was given the same large whitewashed room. To start painting again from scratch was like starting a new life. Post-impressionism was now history, American and International Art has not yet taken over. Some artists turned to abstraction, others to surrealism. Others, like me, felt the need to go back to nature and start learning again. One hot Sunday afternoon, I was painting a watercolour and ran out of water. I went into the nearest house to ask for more. The whole family stood around the fireplace, staring at me exactly as for the desired painting; the composition was already completely determined for the painting 'Connemara Family'. Father was at home dandling the baby. Mother was baking the daily loaf of soda bread in the pot oven. Best of all, they agreed to let me paint them in their house, and to pose for me whenever I wanted. I could not possibly have carried this out, if it had not been for the kindness of a young couple who lived a hundred yards down the road, and allowed me to leave the painting overnight, or contemplate it, or work on it on stormy days. My canvas and the sitters were lit by the window on the left, and the door open on the right. This interest in a double source of light is an important feature of this painting, and has stayed with me in all my paintings of people. When painting this picture, I usually started by asking two of them to pose together, before concentrating on one. I kept a strict record of the number of hours that each posed for me. The eldest girl (on the far right) worked in a knitting 'factory' which employed a few girls, learning to knit jerseys in imitation of the ingenious Aran Island patterns. Her sister wears a dress sent by her cousin in America. The little boy in the foreground wears the petticoat. Those worn by the two sisters in the centre had been improved by their mother, who added collars and dyed them blue. The elder of the two had the reddest hair that I have ever seen, yet as dark as the sooty fireplace behind her. The image of the Sacred Hear above the mantelpiece, which was a feature of every house, was the apex of the composition. Thanks to their co-operation I was able to complete this painting in circumstances which I doubt if another artist has experienced.''
Derek Clarke RSA, British b.1912- Portrait of Elizabeth Joseph (1909-1978) seated in a garden with a book; oil on canvas, signed and dated 1947, 60.8x50.8cm, (unframed) Provenance: Derek Clarke served with the brother of the sitter Stephen Joseph in the DLI in Wand, whom was the uncle of the previous owner. The lot is now being sold on behalf of Oxfam Note: Born on 31st December 1912 at Longthorpe, Peterborough, Derek Clarke studied at the Slade School of Art. He lived in Western Ireland both before and after World War II where, inspired by the landscape and people of Connemara, he produced a significant amount of work. Derek Clarke taught at Edinburgh College of Art between 1947 and 1978, supplementing his income by painting portraits. He can count Elizabeth Blackadder and John Bellany among his students. In 1989 he was made an Associate of the RSA and in 2005 attained full Academician status. Working in the figurative tradition, frequent subjects include landscape and portraiture.
Derek Clarke RWS, ARSA (b.1912) Old Connemara Woman Oil on board, 91 x 71cm Signed and dated 1939 Exhibited: "Derek Clarke Exhibition" The Frederick Gallery, September 2004, catalogue no. 16 where purchased by the present owner. Literature: The Frederick Gallery Catalogue, full page illustration p.19. Derek Clarke has written: 'After Christmas I moved to nearby Carraroe, where I was given a large white-washed bedroom and my own turf fire. So at last I had the facilities to do more painting. For a whole month I painted the old mother of the man of the house (no.16). She never spoke a word except 'mise, mise' as she settled on the stooleen, took out her pen-knife to pare the sixpenny plug of tobacco with which I kept her supplied, and lit her píopa, holding down its metal lid with one finger. Her clothes consisted of two red petticoats, one over the other, a blue check apron, home-spun jacket tucked in at the waist; a loose-knitted woollen 'shawleen' doubled over in front and tied behind, a 'knappikin' roun her head, and the paisley shawl worn Sunday side out (the reverse being brown with yellow patterns). I consider this the most important painting of my life. Not only had I achieved a painting totally devoid of derivations, but it gave me the confidence to hope that I might be able to take up my profession again should I be lucky to survive the war. It is exhibited here for the first time. War was declared in September of that year.' 'This is not just a portrait of a specific woman, but of all the old women who have sat by the turf fire since the dawn of the gaelic world.'
Derek Clarke RSW ARSA (b.1912) Boy with Creel, Carraroe (1941) Watercolour, 17 x 24.5cm Signed and dated Exhibited: 'The Derek Clarke Exhibition', The Frederick Gallery, 2004, Cat No. 59