Prunella Clough (1919-1999)

Clough’s early drawings, such as this one and lot 316, often feature the business of the beach at Lowestoft on the Suffolk coast, which had taken over, around 1950, from Southwold (where the family had a house) as the chief focus of her interest outside London. Although it was situated on a bleak part of the East coast, Lowestoft had a working harbour, and Clough was much attracted by such subjects from the fishing industry, as is demonstrated here by this powerful oil on paper drawing of a fisherman hefting a folded tarpaulin. Her early realism focused upon subjects that were overlooked and unexpected — rather as the Kitchen Sink artists painted the beauty of a lavatory cistern or a crowded breakfast table.

A.L.