Prunella Clough

"I like to paint a small thing edgily." (Prunella Clough) A private individual who chose to remain out of the limelight and yet was admired so highly by her peers, Prunella Clough (1919-1999) was one of the best and most original artists to emerge in the second half of this century. Clough's paintings and graphic work are unique in British art for the way in which they penetrate beyond the surface topography of time and place in England in the past five decades. Industrial tips or artisans' dumping grounds with rusting, abandoned machine parts or broken implements often provided Clough with inspiration, but her sources were always seen, and abstractly revealed, in close-up. A discarded handful of old nails and fragments of wire mesh were enough, rather than the big bulk of a machine: the parts seemed more eloquent to her than the whole. This publication explores the relationship between Clough's early and late work, examining the interesting connections which emerge. With an introduction written by Ben Tufnell and articles by leading critics and artists, the book will also feature extracts from interviews with Clough and an extensive bibliography.