Born in 1941, Graham Clarke initially studied at the Beckenham Art School and later at the Royal College of Art where among others Edward Bawden was one of his teachers. During the 1960s he quickly gained a reputation as an imaginative artist, producing wonderful linocuts and etchings. He is particularly well-known for his traditional humoristic coloured etchings, using a domed printing plate. Most of his etchings portray his local Kent, the landscape, the beautiful old cottages and especially also the numerous interesting local characters. Village fairs, musical bands and other local events feature heavily in his artwork. Since there is normally so much going on in his etchings you always need a bit of time to explore what is going on and you move from one small delight to the next. He regularly manages to insert himself into the etchings as well, which is only fair as he is very much a local of Kent.
This particular work is one of his earlier pieces before he started using his characteristic domed plates, but his unique style is already beginning to shine through. This is a linocut, rather than an etching and larger than most of his later work. It is a lovely Kent scene, titled ‘Sepham Oast Houses’ and was printed by Editions Alecto in a run of 100 probably around 1966-67. The work shares some similarities with other printmakers of his time like Bawden or Robert Tavener. I love the hyper-stylised trees. The use of colour is very restraint but effective. Despite the use of big black blobs, the predominant soft yellow gives this linocut a very summery feeling. This is accentuated by the little accent lines in the sky as if it is shimmering from the heat. While not his most typical work, it is one of my favourites as it both fits in well with the British printmaking tradition of the 1960s and it shows the development of the artist’s unique later style.
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