Geoffrey Clarke

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Clarke, Geoffrey (1924– ). British abstract sculptor, designer, and printmaker, born at Darley Dale, Derbyshire. He studied at Preston School of Art and Manchester School of Art before serving in the RAF, 1943–7, then had his main training at the Royal College of Art, 1948–52. His sculpture is mainly in forged, welded, and cast metal, initially iron and lead and then aluminium (in 1958 he installed an aluminium foundry at his studio in Suffolk). Unusually for an artist working in such a modern idiom, he has devoted a good deal of his career to religious commissions, including a number of works for Coventry Cathedral (1953–62) and a pulpit (1966) in Chichester Cathedral, made of stone-faced reinforced concrete and cast aluminium. Such works have been praised for showing the potentialities of modern art in a religious setting: in Church Furnishing and Decoration in England and Wales (1980) Gerald Randall describes his high altar cross in Coventry Cathedral as ‘abstract, but vividly conveying the agony and contortion of crucifixion'. Clarke's secular work includes commissions for numerous public buildings, notably for several universities, and reliefs for the liners Canberra and Oriana. He has worked in various media other than sculpture, including enamel, mosaic, stained glass, and etching.

Clarke, Geoffrey (b Darley Dale, Derbyshire, 28 Nov. 1924). British abstract sculptor, designer, and printmaker. His sculpture is mainly in forged, welded, and cast metal, initially iron and lead and then aluminium. Unusually for an artist working in such a modern idiom, he has devoted a good deal of his career to religious commissions, including a number of works for Coventry Cathedral (1953–62) and a pulpit (1966) in Chichester Cathedral, made of stone-faced reinforced concrete and cast aluminium. Such works have been praised for showing the potentialities of modern art in a religious setting: in Church Furnishing and Decoration in England and Wales (1980) Gerald Randall describes his high altar cross in Coventry Cathedral as ‘abstract, but vividly conveying the agony and contortion of crucifixion’. Clarke's secular work includes commissions for numerous public buildings, and reliefs for the liners Canberra and Oriana. He has worked in various media other than sculpture, including enamel, mosaic, stained glass, and etching.