Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 2

Dora Thacker Clarke
The Gaze, Signed Graphite 20th Century Portrait

About the Item

Graphite on paper, signed bottom right Image size: 13 x 8 3/4 inches (33 x 22.25 cm) Original frame Dora Thacher Clarke, later Dora Middleton, (1895–1989) was a British sculptor and wood carver who also wrote about, and promoted African art. Clarke was born in Harrow in Middlesex. Her father, Joseph Thacher Clarke was an American architect. Clarke won a scholarship that allowed her to attend the Slade School of Fine Art. Aged fifteen, Clarke initially studied at the Slade on a part-time basis for three days each week throughout 1910 and 1911 but during 1915 and 1916 she studied sculpture there as a full-time student. Clarke first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1923 and continued to do so until 1959. In the early 1930s she was a regular exhibitor in group shows at the Goupil Gallery and in March 1937 had her first solo show at the French Gallery. She also exhibited at the Paris Salon and with the Royal Society of British Artists. Clarke's works included bronze castings, memorials and wood sculptures, often of African heads. For example she was commissioned to sculpt the posthumous portrait bust of Sir Walter Morley Fletcher. The most notable of her memorials is the panel and medallion tribute to Joseph Conrad at Bishopsbourne in Kent, which was unveiled in 1927. Clarke also wrote about, and promoted African art and spent a year, between 1927 and 1928 in Kenya, where she made many drawings which when she returned to London she used as the basis for wood carvings and bronzes of tribal figures. Wood carving became her technique of choice, often working with hardwoods and, on occasion, sperm whale teeth. Clarke married Admiral Gervase B Middleton in 1938 but rarely exhibited work under her married name. During World War II, Clarke was commissioned by the War Artists' Advisory Committee to produce a portrait medallion depicting a serviceman who had been awarded the George Cross. This proved to be the only portrait medallion acquired for the WAAC collection. Sculptures by Clarke are held in various museums, including the Ashmolean Museum which also holds a 1936 portrait of her by Orovida Camille Pissarro.
  • Creator:
    Dora Thacker Clarke (1895 - 1989, British)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 13 in (33.02 cm)Width: 7 in (17.78 cm)
  • More Editions & Sizes:
    1 of 1 Price: $2,229
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    London, GB
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU52412631982
More From This SellerView All
  • A Study of Thomas Cooper Gotch, 19th Century Graphite Sketch
    Located in London, GB
    Graphite on paper Image size: 5 1/2 x 20 1/2 inches (14 x 52 cm) Framed This sketch is a portrait of Thomas Gotch is by his lifelong friend and confidante, Jane Ross, whom he met at...
    Category

    Mid-19th Century English School Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Graphite

  • Chelsea, Graphite Portrait, English School 20th Century
    Located in London, GB
    Graphite on paper, initialled and dated 1960 Image size: 8 x 6 inches (20 x 15 cm) Handmade frame
    Category

    1960s English School Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Graphite

  • Mending, Graphite Portrait, 20th Century Modern British, Signed Artwork
    By James Stroudley
    Located in London, GB
    Graphite on paper, signed lower right Image size: 17 x 21 inches (43.25 x 53.25 cm) Contemporary frame James Stroudley Stroudley was born in London on 17 June 1906, the son of Jam...
    Category

    20th Century English School Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Graphite

  • Portrait of a Woman in Thought, 20th Century English Oil Painting
    By Caroline Hutchinson
    Located in London, GB
    Oil on canvas Image size: 16 x 20 inches (40.5 x 51 cm) This portrait is painted in an impressionist palette and is likely to have been created by Caroline Hutchinson circa 1955. It...
    Category

    20th Century English School Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Canvas, Oil

  • Portrait of a Man Wearing a Turban, 18th Century Pastel Drawing
    By Thomas Frye
    Located in London, GB
    Pastel on paper Image size: 13 x 17 1/2 inches (33 x 44.5 cm) Mounted and framed This original pastel drawing by Thomas Frye is a half-length portrait of a man dressed in a turban. This drawing is the original sketch for one of the heads depicted in Frye's collection 'Twelve Mezzotint Prints' of 1760 and it can be assumed that this pastel work was created earlier of this same year. Two versions of the print, created from this original work, are currently held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Frye's evocative figures, although presumably based on living models, exceed the conventions of portraiture, and also function as character studies. The man shown here - dressed in the fashionable 'Turkish' manner - turns with parted lips as if poised to speak, while raising the elegant fingers in one hand in a rhetorical gesture. His long eyelashes and smoothly rendered wrinkles and dimples are hallmarks of Frye's refined style. The Artist Thomas Frye (c. 1710 – 3 April 1762) was an Anglo-Irish artist, best known for his portraits in oil and pastel, including some miniatures and his early mezzotint engravings. He was also the patentee of the Bow porcelain factory, London, and claimed in his epitaph to be "the inventor and first manufacturer of porcelain in England," though his rivals at the Chelsea porcelain factory seem to have preceded him in bringing wares to market. The Bow porcelain works did not long survive Frye's death; their final auctions took place in May 1764. Frye was born at Edenderry, County Offaly, Ireland, in 1710; in his youth he went to London to practice as an artist. His earliest works are a pair of pastel portraits of boys...
    Category

    1750s English School Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Oil Pastel

  • Self Portrait
    By Frank Jameson
    Located in London, GB
    Frank Jameson 1899 - 1968 Self Portrait Graphite on paper, signed lower right Image size: 15 x 9 inches Contemporary frame Frank Jameson was born in London and later moved to Birmingham where he attended evening classes in drawing and painting at Birmingham Art School. By day he worked as an insurance salesman. During the First World War he became an officer in the Worcester Regiment and was in charge of building bridges and block houses. He returned to the Midlands but then travelled widely by rail, eventually discovering St Ives where he was inspired by the stunning scenery. He stayed and rented the Loft Studio. He also became a member of the St Ives Society of Artists and exhibited frequently with his fellow artists, especially John Park...
    Category

    20th Century Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Graphite

You May Also Like
  • Early 19th-Century English School, Portrait Of A Lady
    Located in Cheltenham, GB
    This exquisite early 19th-century drawing depicts a demure young lady wearing a dress with voluminous ‘gigot’ sleeves, necklace and elaborate bonnet. It’s...
    Category

    1830s English School Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Pencil, Paper

  • William Moore, Portrait Of A Boy, Watercolour
    Located in Cheltenham, GB
    This fine portrait by British artist William Moore (1790-1851) depicts a young man holding a book. He’s wearing a white shirt, black necktie, waistcoat and unbuttoned frock coat. During the...
    Category

    19th Century English School Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Pencil, Paper, Watercolor

  • William Moore, Portrait Of A Lady, Watercolour
    Located in Cheltenham, GB
    This exquisite portrait by British artist William Moore (1790-1851) depicts a young lady wearing a beautiful white dress with gigot sleeves. It’s a gentl...
    Category

    19th Century English School Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Watercolor, Pencil

  • Sickert pencil portrait drawing of Maurice Villain in Dieppe, 1901, British
    By Walter Sickert
    Located in Petworth, West Sussex
    Walter Richard Sickert RA RBA (British, 1860-1942) Portrait of Maurice Villain pencil on paper indistinctly inscribed and signed `Maurice Villain …...
    Category

    Early 20th Century English School Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Pencil

  • Early 20th C Portrait Attractive Female Watercolour Listed Artist K B Curtis
    Located in York, GB
    A lady at her dressing table Signed and indistinctly dated 190*, watercolour, Miss K* B* Curtis (ex.1917 -1919) framed and glazed(modern frame) ready to hang in very good condition size overall 30 x 24 inches approx. size of painting 20 x 14 inches approx. Miss K* B* Curtis exhibited 1917-1919 portrait...
    Category

    Early 20th Century English School Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Watercolor

  • Contemplation
    By Sir Hubert Von Herkomer R.A. RWS.
    Located in Middletown, NY
    This is an engaging work with masterful detail that will unfold for an intent viewer, particularly in the area of the figure's well-worn hands, and her traditional clothing. The image depicts a Bavarian woman deep in thought while winding a skein of wool. She is seated outside of her home, where she has brought her yarn swift...
    Category

    1870s English School Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Watercolor, Handmade Paper

Recently Viewed

View All