CLARKE, Geoffrey Cyril Petts

1924 - 2014

Geoffrey Cyril Petts Clarke was born at Darley Dale, Matlock, Derbyshire on 28 November 1924, son of John Moulding Clarke (28 July 1889-10 January 1961), an architect, and his wife Alice Ada [Janet] née Petts (25 June 1902-1949), who married at St Mary, South Darley, Derbyshire in 1923 and in 1939 were living at 55 Watling Street, Fulwood, Lancashire. Geoffrey studied at Preston School of Art 1940-1941 and at Manchester School of Art 1941-1942, before serving in the Second World War with the RAF. After the war he returned to his studies at Storey Institute at Lancaster School of Art 1947-1948, before attending the Royal College of Art in 1948, where he remained until 1952. An artist & sculptor, who exhibited at the Royal Academy 1971-2014; Redfern Gallery; Yorkshire Sculpture Park; the Fine Art Society and elsewhere. In 1951, awarded a Royal College of Art Travelling Scholarship and received the silver medal at the Milan Triennale for a collaboration with Robin Day (1915-2010), the furniture designer. He married at Leigh, Lancashire in 1947, Ethelwynne Tyrer (5 April 1924-14 August 2008), and they had two sons. Clarke built a small foundry in a barn beside the house, Stowe Hill, Hartest, that he and his future wife, had come across whilst driving through Suffolk in 1954. So successful were his early aluminium pieces that this foundry quickly grew into a larger workshop, with a polystyrene cutting room attached, which was run with the help of assistants, one being the couple’s son, Jonathan Clarke, himself now a sculptor. Works such as the 'Battersea Park' series of the early 1960s show the imprint of their hands-on fabrication, a rough-hewn, bark-like quality that gives them the look of a medieval take on Anthony Caro’s contemporaneous 'Early One Morning'. Geoffrey returned to the Royal College of Art 1968-1973, where he was Head of Light Transmission and Projection Department. Clarke’s first solo show was at Gimpel Fils Gallery, London in 1952, the same year in which his work was included in the Venice Biennale. Clarke was selected for British Sculptors ‘72, at the Royal Academy and for British Sculpture in the Twentieth Century, at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in 1981. Geoffrey Cyril Petts Clarke lived at Stowe Hill House, Hartest, Bury St Edmund's where he died 30 October 2014.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from Stowe Hill, Hartest, Bury St Edmund's, Suffolk
1971 74 Landscape Reinvestigation. Blueprint
1972 1106 Blueprint and Reality – aluminium & gravel
1973 1099 Cupid’s Action Pack – brass & canvas
1974 1354 Towards Retreat – sand cast metal
         1355 Passage of Moments – sand cast metal
         1356 King and Queen – sand cast metal
         1357 Dark and Constant Origin – sand cast metal
         1358 Fair and Eternal Spring – sand cast metal
1976 1280 Beyond Materialism – cast aluminium
         1281 Above Eye Level – cast aluminium
1977 1276 Maquette for Flying Cross on Spire, Coventry Cathedral
         1277 Maquette for Altar and Altar Cross, Coventry Cathedral
1983 1328 Adaption – cast aluminium
         1331 Cumbrian Project 31/81 – cast aluminium
         1332 Cumbrian Project 26/81 – cast aluminium
         1333 Cumbrian Project 29/81 – cast aluminium
         1334 Cumbrian Project 6/83 – cast aluminium
         1335 Toriigenus. Marquette for York House, N.1. – cast aluminium
1985 1331 ‘55/’85 Towards a Constant No. 23 – cast aluminium
         1332 Towards a Constant No. 22 – cast alumimium
         1333 The Vulnerable Hunter – cast aluminium
         1334 The Warrior, the Hermit Crab – cast aluminium
         1335 Pyramas and Thisbe – cast aluminium
         1337 Towards a Constant No. 28 – cast alumimium
1986 848 Towards a Constant – cast aluminium
         903 Bang Bang Britannia or Goodbye Hobson – cast aluminium & painted wood
         1305 Pyramus and Thise - bronze
1987 1111 Extension One (Only Human) – mixed media
         1139 Extension Two (Towards Only) – mixed media
         1141 Extension Three (Only 1987?) – mixed media
1989 970 One and One – bronze
         972 Alternative Thoughts – aluminium
         1011 A Concept for Elsewhere – bronze
1990 993 Extension 921 – mixed media
         994 Perception I – cast aluminium
         1022 Shadow – cast aluminium
         1023 Extension 930 - mixed media
1991 1074 Tank Man Relief No 2 - aluminium
1992 96 Man and Woman, 1950 – sugar aquatint
         575 Westley, 1970 - aluminium
         1681 Towards Abstraction - aluminium
         1688 Man and Woman, 1950/52 - iron
         1727 The Four Seasons, 1955 - iron
1993 1360 No Title-Relief – cast aluminium
         1361 No Title Relief – cast aluminium
1994 1305 Still Life – aluminium & slate
         1307 Discovery – aluminium & slate
         1308 Division – aluminium & slate
         1309 Landscape– aluminium & slate
         1310 Torii– aluminium & slate
         1316 Witness – mixed media
1995 53 Landscape – aluminium & slate
         54 Part of the Cycle – aluminium & slate
         55 Conservator– aluminium & slate
         56 Pilgrim – aluminium & slate
         57 Transition – aluminium & slate
1996 1201 Pilgrim’s Journey – aluminium on slate
         1202 Pilgrim II– aluminium on slate
         1203 History into Landscape – aluminium on slate
         1205 2 Worlds – mixed media
         1206 Stow – aluminium on slate
1997 886 Black supports White – mixed media
         887 Pressure Points – mixed media
         888 Hong Kong – mixed media
         895 Ourselves – mixed media
         896 User – mixed media
         897 Many a Title – mixed media
1998 165 Picnic on the Beach – lithograph
         997 Landscape – slate & aluminium
         998 Perception II – slate & aluminium
         999 The Church – oak & aluminium
         1000 Cumbrian Project – slate & aluminium
         1001 A non-representational form – slate & aluminium
         1002 Monument – slate & aluminium
1999 427 Sculptor and Aesthetic Detector – mixed media
         820 Frankenstein – mixed media
         821 Painter’s Self-portrait – mixed media
         822 The Artist’s Real Instrument – mixed media
         841 Ego in Progress – mixed media
         842 Conveying Life – mixed media
2001 454 Solar plexus of the Mind – mixed media
         457 Pilgrim – bronze
         460 Embracing Chaos – mixed media
         463 Conclusion – mixed media
2002 906 Metal Sketch wall relief
         907 M.S.W.R. III
         908 M.S.W.R. IV
         910 M.S.W.R. VI
         911 M.S.W.R. IX
2003 102 Walking the Dog mixed media
         644 Baton - bronze
         646 Sculptor and Aesthetic Detector - wood
         647 Transmission in Progress - wood
         648 The Urge - wood
         649 A Path - wood
2006 1161 Consignment – aluminium on wood
2007 1076 Sapping the Source – aluminium
         1090 Linear Core – cast alum
         1091 Fossilised Core – cast alum
         1092 Expanded Core – cast alum
2008 1009 Against Nature – cast aluminium
2009 724 A Return to Emotion: March 2009 acrylic
         731 A Return to Emotion: April 2009 – acrylic
         760 Post Inert Phase II Cube B 1968 cast aluminium
         761 Post Inert Phase II Cube A 1968 cast aluminium
         762 Post Inert Phase II Pyramid 1968 cast aluminium
2010 681 Portal – aluminium
         682 Portal Maquette – aluminium
         683 Germination – aluminium
         771 Conflict of Interest – aluminium
2011 985 Portal VII – aluminium
         986 Portal V– aluminium
         987 Portal IV– aluminium
         988 Portal VI– aluminium
         989 Portal III– aluminium
         990 Portal VIII - aluminium
2012 1290 Flying Boat II– aluminium
         1293 Flying Boat I – aluminium
         1294 Flying Boat III – aluminium

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Works by This Artist