PRUNELLA CLOUGH (1919-1999)

Clough had previously shown a preference for earthbound colours and would self-deprecatingly refer to her ‘grey’ or ‘sludge-coloured’ work. But in the late 1980s and early 1990s sudden small passages of bright and sometimes synthetic colour would appear. She had developed a fascination with the colourful assortment of cheap goods sold in Fulham’s North End Road market and in nearby hardware shops run by Asians, some of which brimmed with brightly coloured plastic items. She took colour photographs of what she saw and sometimes correspondences exist between these images and the unexpected configurations of shape and form found in her late paintings, with no loss of buoyancy. Both Turning and Update (see lots 92 and 238) also belong to this inventive period.

We are very grateful to Frances Spalding for preparing this catalogue entry.