Our local history group enjoyed a talk recently from Elizabeth Allen, on the artist Sir George Clausen (1852-1944). Clausen was a prolific painter, independent in artistic matters yet responsive to modern developments. He was an engaging and well-liked Professor of Painting at the RA - as popular, it was said, as Reynolds had been to earlier generations. If Clausen is less well known today, it is no indication of the respect that he was accorded within his lifetime. Too old to fight in the First World War, Clausen was appointed a war artist instead. Work commissioned for the Houses of Parliament in the 1920s, including a famous depiction of John Wycliffe, eventually earned him a knighthood, and he died in 1944 after a long and studious career.
Elizabeth’s talk mainly concerned the first half of Clausen’s life. Born in 1852, he was the son of a Danish decorator living in London. His talent was spotted early on, and he was schooled at the South Kensington art schools. Artists making their name at the time were obliged to spend time on the Continent, and Clausen chose Antwerp over Paris. His style, and his distinctly European surname, led some to mistake him for a native Dutch painter.
After a brief period in Holland, by the 1870s Clausen was back in London, which at the time was experiencing an explosion of artistic energy. As well as the famous battle between Ruskin and Whistler over Whistler’s ‘Nocturne’ painting, London had become the destination for émigré French artists escaping the Franco-Prussian war. Among the influences on Clausen’s development were French artists such as Monet, Pissarro and Bastien-Lepage, while James Tissot’s portraiture left its impression on Clausen’s depictions of everyday London street life.
Clausen married, and moved out of London finding rural refuge at Childwick Green in Hertfordshire. Here the light, and the rural subject matter, further developed his art. Artists such as Millet had made labouring life in the countryside a subject of their work, and Clausen developed a similar fascination. His depictions of gleaners, stone pickers and turnip harvesters threw light upon the poorest parts of rural society at a time when the nation was experiencing the jolts of rapid industrialisation.
Not that Clausen rejected the allure of modernity: he made use of a camera in taking studies for his paintings, and his choice of rural location was dictated to some degree by proximity to a train line back to London, where he exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery and the New English Art Club. After Hertfordshire, Clausen and his family located to Cookham Dean in Berkshire, where he continued to paint everyday scenes (such as Ploughboy (1888), Girl at a Gate (1889) and Schoolgirl (1889)).
In 1890 Clausen moved to Widdington, Essex, where he rented a house called Bishops. A combination of the East Anglian light, and the traditional feel to much of the local farming activity, gave him a rich seam of subjects: men making hay ricks, or harvesting. There were several depictions of the interior of barns, no doubt inspired by Prior’s Hall Barn at Widdington (now an English Heritage property). Clausen’s sons went to Newport Free Grammar School, where the headmaster (William Waterhouse) had his portrait painted by Clausen. The painting still hangs in the school building in Newport.
Clausen’s artistic reputation seems to be reviving at present. Although he was painting at the same time as the Impressionists, his work is clearly different and distinct: more naturalistic and faithful to its subject. Clausen would spend hours studying the movement of a scythe-cutter’s arm, just to ensure the accuracy of his depiction. He was serious about his art, and about the traditions within which he worked. Elizabeth’s talk was a revelation, in throwing light upon the development of such an energetic and accomplished artist, who would have been a well-known figure in Newport during the 15 years he spent at Bishops.
The tombstone of Clausen and his wife in Newbury, Berkshire, apparently says that “They came to this village during the war and died here. He would have chosen to rest in the Essex countryside that he loved and painted. She would have chosen to be wherever he was.”
Elizabeth’s talk mainly concerned the first half of Clausen’s life. Born in 1852, he was the son of a Danish decorator living in London. His talent was spotted early on, and he was schooled at the South Kensington art schools. Artists making their name at the time were obliged to spend time on the Continent, and Clausen chose Antwerp over Paris. His style, and his distinctly European surname, led some to mistake him for a native Dutch painter.
After a brief period in Holland, by the 1870s Clausen was back in London, which at the time was experiencing an explosion of artistic energy. As well as the famous battle between Ruskin and Whistler over Whistler’s ‘Nocturne’ painting, London had become the destination for émigré French artists escaping the Franco-Prussian war. Among the influences on Clausen’s development were French artists such as Monet, Pissarro and Bastien-Lepage, while James Tissot’s portraiture left its impression on Clausen’s depictions of everyday London street life.
Clausen married, and moved out of London finding rural refuge at Childwick Green in Hertfordshire. Here the light, and the rural subject matter, further developed his art. Artists such as Millet had made labouring life in the countryside a subject of their work, and Clausen developed a similar fascination. His depictions of gleaners, stone pickers and turnip harvesters threw light upon the poorest parts of rural society at a time when the nation was experiencing the jolts of rapid industrialisation.
Not that Clausen rejected the allure of modernity: he made use of a camera in taking studies for his paintings, and his choice of rural location was dictated to some degree by proximity to a train line back to London, where he exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery and the New English Art Club. After Hertfordshire, Clausen and his family located to Cookham Dean in Berkshire, where he continued to paint everyday scenes (such as Ploughboy (1888), Girl at a Gate (1889) and Schoolgirl (1889)).
In 1890 Clausen moved to Widdington, Essex, where he rented a house called Bishops. A combination of the East Anglian light, and the traditional feel to much of the local farming activity, gave him a rich seam of subjects: men making hay ricks, or harvesting. There were several depictions of the interior of barns, no doubt inspired by Prior’s Hall Barn at Widdington (now an English Heritage property). Clausen’s sons went to Newport Free Grammar School, where the headmaster (William Waterhouse) had his portrait painted by Clausen. The painting still hangs in the school building in Newport.
Clausen’s artistic reputation seems to be reviving at present. Although he was painting at the same time as the Impressionists, his work is clearly different and distinct: more naturalistic and faithful to its subject. Clausen would spend hours studying the movement of a scythe-cutter’s arm, just to ensure the accuracy of his depiction. He was serious about his art, and about the traditions within which he worked. Elizabeth’s talk was a revelation, in throwing light upon the development of such an energetic and accomplished artist, who would have been a well-known figure in Newport during the 15 years he spent at Bishops.
The tombstone of Clausen and his wife in Newbury, Berkshire, apparently says that “They came to this village during the war and died here. He would have chosen to rest in the Essex countryside that he loved and painted. She would have chosen to be wherever he was.”
