Prunella Clough: Recent Paintings

Prunella Clough rarely exhibited, and this was her first substantial solo exhibition in London since her Whitechapel show of 1960.

London-born Clough (1919-99) was known for her exploration of urban life, particularly of the working classes. Her relationship with abstraction grew stronger as she grew older, and her sombre palette and stylized imagery made a sincere, engaging, and invaluable contribution to 20th century British painting, drawing, collage, and printmaking.

Shortly before her death in 1999, she was awarded the Jerwood painting prize. In 2007, Tate Britain staged an exhibition of her figurative works from the 1940s and ’50s, alongside a selection of her later abstract work.

The Serpentine exhibition of 1976 concentrated on Clough’s most recent pieces, with 30 works displayed from the previous five years.