Brian Clarke (artist)
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Brian Clarke (born 2 July 1953) is a British painter, architectural artist and printmaker, known for his large-scale stained glass and
mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
projects, symbolist paintings, set designs, and collaborations with major figures in
Modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...
and
contemporary architecture Contemporary architecture is the architecture of the 21st century. No single style is dominant. Contemporary architects work in several different styles, from postmodernism, high-tech architecture and new interpretations of traditional architec ...
. Born to a working-class family in the north of England, and a full-time art student on scholarship at 13, Clarke came to prominence in the late 1970s as a painter and figure of the
Punk movement The punk subculture includes a diverse and widely known array of ideologies, fashion, and other forms of expression, visual art, dance, literature, and film. Largely characterised by anti-establishment views, the promotion of individual freedo ...
and designer of ecclesiastical stained glass, and by the early 1980s had become a major figure in international contemporary art, the subject of several television documentaries and a café society regular known for his architectonic art, prolific output in various media, friendships with key cultural figures, and polemical lectures and interviews. His practice in architectural and
autonomous In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...
stained glass, often on a monumental scale, has led to successive innovation and invention in the development of the medium, including the creation of stained glass without lead and the subsequent pioneering of a 'dramatically enhanced Pointillism', and the creation of sculptural stained glass works, analogous to collage, made primarily or entirely of lead. The latter two advances are described as having taken stained glass as an artform to its zero-point in each direction: absolute transparency, and, conversely, complete opacity. A lifelong exponent of the integration of art and architecture, his architectural collaborations include work with
Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...
,
Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Nor ...
,
Arata Isozaki Arata Isozaki (磯崎 新, ''Isozaki Arata''; born 23 July 1931) is a Japanese architect, urban designer, and theorist from Ōita. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2019. Biography Isozaki was ...
,
Oscar Niemeyer Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was ...
,
I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...
, César Pelli and
Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ( ...
. He served a 7-year term as chairman of
The Architecture Foundation Founded in 1991, The Architecture Foundation is Britain's oldest independent architecture centre. It examines contemporary issues in architectural theory and practice, through a public programme that has involved exhibitions, competitions publicatio ...
, and served on the Design Review Committee of the
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for C ...
. His artistic collaborations have included work with David Bailey,
Hugh Hudson Hugh Hudson (born 25 August 1936) is an English film director. He was among a generation of British directors who would begin their career making documentaries and television commercials before going on to have success in films. He directed the ...
, Malcolm McLaren, and with Linda McCartney and
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
.


Biography


Early life

Brian Clarke was born in
Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...
,
Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, to Edward Ord Clarke, a coal miner, and Lilian Clarke (née Whitehead), a cotton spinner. Raised in a family familiar with
spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...
, his maternal grandmother a notable local medium, Clarke attended a Spiritualist Lyceum through his childhood and, considered a 'sensitive', gained a reputation locally as a 'boy
medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane *Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...
'. In 1965, aged 12, he applied for a place as the last intake of an education scheme existing in the North of England to enable artistically promising children to leave their secondary school and become full-time art students,. and was awarded a scholarship to the Oldham School of Arts and Crafts. In place of a standard curriculum, he principally studied the arts and design, learning drawing, heraldry, pictorial composition, colour theory, pigment mixing and calligraphy among other subjects. Considered a prodigy, by the age of 16 Clarke had mastered the orthodoxies of academic life drawing. In 1968 he and his family moved to
Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
and, too young at 15 to gain entrance to Burnley College of Art, he lied about his age and was accepted on the strength of his previous work.


1970s

In 1970 Clarke enrolled in the Architectural Stained Glass course at North Devon College of Art and Design, from which he graduated two years later with a first class distinction in their Diploma in Design. In 1971, aged 17, he received his first commission, for a series of windows in the Grade II* listed Southcott Barton, a 17th-century residential home, and the following year received his first ecclesiastical commission, for a memorial window in Preston Minster. In August 1972, he married his fellow art student Liz Finch, the daughter of a local vicar, opened a stained glass studio in Preston, and began to take on work including painting restoring, designing lamps, repairing damaged ecclesiastical glass, as well as working independently as a painter. This was followed by a commission for a new window for Coppull Church, Lancashire, in 1973, and further secular stained glass commissions, for which he painted, fired, leaded, assembled and installed the windows and panels himself, transporting them on a local bus. Further local ecclesiastical commissions followed. In 1974 Clarke was awarded the Winston Churchill Memorial Travelling Fellowship to study medieval and contemporary stained glass in
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
and
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. That same year he received a commission for a suite of 20 windows for the Church of St Lawrence,
Longridge Longridge is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Ribble Valley in Lancashire, England. It is situated north-east of the city of Preston, at the western end of Longridge Fell, a long ridge above the River Ribble. Its nearest neigh ...
, considered to be his first mature work, and in 1975 was awarded the Churchill Extension Fellowship to study art in architecture in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. Later in 1975 Clarke moved to
Birchover Birchover is a village and civil parish in the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire, England, five miles north-west of Matlock. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 362. Eagle Tor is a small hamlet on the north western edge of the p ...
,
Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
, renting a vicarage as home and studio from the local church authorities – he later designed and gifted a suite of windows to the parish church, St Michael and All Angels. A travelling exhibition of secular, autonomous stained glass panels inspired in part by Oriental landscape painting, ''Glass Art One'', was shown at venues in Derbyshire and Lancashire, including
Derby Cathedral The Cathedral Church of All Saints Derby, better known as Derby Cathedral, is a cathedral church in the city of Derby, England. In 1927, it was promoted from parish church status, to a cathedral, creating a seat for the Bishop of Derby, w ...
and Manchester Cathedral. An internationally notable commission from the
University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...
to produce 45 paintings, vestments, and a series of stained glass windows followed for a multi-faith chapel in the
Queen's Medical Centre The Queen's Medical Centre (popularly known as QMC, Queen's Med or Queen's) is a teaching hospital situated in Nottingham, England. Until February 2012, when it was surpassed by the Royal London Hospital, it was the largest hospital in the Unit ...
. As one of the largest public art commissions of the decade, the process of design and installation was filmed by the BBC as material for a documentary. The research from the two Churchill Trust Fellowships led to the Arts Council of Great Britain-funded exhibition of stained glass ''GLASS/LIGHT'', co-curated by Clarke, British war artist John Piper and art historian Martin Harrison, with the collaboration of Marc Chagall, and produced the book ''Architectural Stained Glass''. ''GLASS/LIGHT'', part of the Festival of the City of London, was the most extensive exhibition of stained glass of the 20th century. In 1978, Clarke controversially appeared on the cover of the journal ''
Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism ...
'' with a work titled ''Velarde is Not Mocked''. Clarke had been commissioned to design and fabricate two windows for the notable 1930s Art Deco church of St Gabriel's, Blackburn, by architect F. X. Velarde; the windows, as part of a programme of restoration and refurbishment, were designed to complement and respond to the architecture, making reference to elements of the original design of the building, considered a milestone in the development of English church architecture towards modernism. Significant changes were made by the restoring architectural practice to the building, and the interior and exterior elements were unsympathetically altered. Clarke's public attack on the treatment of Velarde's building by the restoring firm, and his refusal to compromise with the Cathedrals Advisory Committee on their recommended changes to a design commissioned in 1976 for two windows in Derby Cathedral, marked the end of his working in the Church of England. In 1979 he undertook a polemical lecture tour of British universities on the subject of art and architecture; titled 'Rescuing Art from Artists', the first lecture, in Hull, was introduced by poet
Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, ''The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, ''Jill'' (1946) and ''A Girl in Winter'' (1947 ...
. Between 1978–9, the BBC filmed footage of his studio practice and life for an hour-long BBC Omnibus documentary, ''Brian Clarke: The Story So Far''. At the time of broadcast the UK had only three television channels, and an audience of millions watched the documentary; the BBC recorded multiple viewer complaints, and both programme and subsequent press coverage, including his appearance on the cover of ''
Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...
'' magazine photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe, footage of which appeared in the documentary, brought him to broader public attention. Later in 1979, Clarke became a presenter on the BBC2 arts programme ''Mainstream'', and the BBC Radio 4 programme
Kaleidescope A kaleidoscope () is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of these mirrors are shown as a regular symmetrical pattern when vie ...
, conducting interviews with figures including Brassaï,
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
,
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
, and
Elisabeth Lutyens Agnes Elisabeth Lutyens, CBE (9 July 190614 April 1983) was an English composer. Early life and education Elisabeth Lutyens was born in London on 9 July 1906. She was one of the five children of Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton (1874–1964), a me ...
, and giving Sheffield band
The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...
, of whom he'd been an early supporter, their first television appearance.


1980s

At the start of 1980, Clarke began to paint in oils again after a period of working primarily graphically and in acrylic, and created his first constructions, in wood and steel, and designs for furniture. Clarke accepted a proposal to design stage sets for Kraftwerk, and collaborated on unrealised projects with David Bailey, with Brian Eno, and with Malcolm McLaren and
Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she m ...
as designer of the aborted zine ''Chicken'', whose creation was funded by EMI and filmed by BBC's ''Arena''. Noticing the similarity between the reticular, Constructivist-derived symbols that dominated his work and the light-metering computergrams from the Olympus OM System cameras, he produced a series of technology-related paintings; ''Time Lag Zero'', commissioned for the headquarters of Olympus Optical (UK), was unveiled at Langan's Brasserie by
Patrick Lichfield Thomas Patrick John Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield (25 April 1939 – 11 November 2005) was an English photographer from the Anson family. He inherited the Earldom of Lichfield in 1960 from his paternal grandfather. In his professional practice ...
for the fifth anniversary of Olympus UK, and filmed by Granada Television as part of a documentary on Clarke and his work, released by ITV as ''Time Lag Zero: Impressions of Brian Clarke''. Later that year, a major commission for paintings, a wooden construction, and a suite of stained glass windows for the Olympus European Headquarters Building in Hamburg was executed, for which Clarke was given 'complete freedom of the design of the entrance hall for the new building', and, starring in a series of adverts for Olympus and for Polaroid, he became a household name in the UK and the United States. The complexity of the stained glass designs for Hamburg necessitated the development of special diamond cutting and sandblasting techniques to accommodate the graphic, non-structural role of the lead in places, and marked the start of Clarke's manufacturing his windows in Germany rather than England, a major break with tradition. In 1981, Clarke was invited to teach as a visiting artist at
Pilchuck Glass School Pilchuck Glass School is an international center for glass art education. The school was founded in 1971 by Dale Chihuly, Anne Gould Hauberg (1917-2016), and John H Hauberg (1916-2002). The campus is located on a former tree farm in Stanwood, W ...
in Washington, with Patrick Reyntiens and Dale Chihuly, for the summer education programme. Clarke introduced all-day life-drawing classes, intensively teaching academic drawing from the life in place of glass painting techniques with the aim of opening up 'new ways of looking at glass design'. Later that year, receiving a commission from the Government of Saudi Arabia for the Royal Mosque of King Khalid International Airport, Clarke studied
Islamic ornament Islamic ornament is the use of decorative patterns in Islamic art and Islamic architecture. Its elements can be broadly divided into the arabesque, using curving plant-based elements, geometric patterns with straight lines or regular curves, and ...
at the Quran schools in Fez. A portfolio of screenprints, dedicated to his friend
C. P. Snow Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow, (15 October 1905 – 1 July 1980) was an English novelist and physical chemist who also served in several important positions in the British Civil Service and briefly in the UK government.''The Columbia Encyclope ...
and titled '''The Two Cultures''' (after Lord Snow's influential 1959 Rede Lecture on the perceived gulf between the humanities and sciences of the same name) was published, and he became the first artist to have an exhibition at the
Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...
, with a solo show of paintings, constructions and prints, including the first appearance of his ''Computergram'' series of screenprints on canvas. That year, the first monograph on his work, ''Brian Clarke'' by Martin Harrison, was published, and the Victoria and Albert Museum acquired a large-scale stained glass triptych, executed by him in 1979, and an oil painting titled ''Trial and Error''. The Royal Mosque, completed in 1982 and comprising 2,000 square metres of stained glass, was considered to be the largest and technically most advanced stained glass project of the modern period, requiring the full staff of 4 stained glass factories and 150 craftsmen, taking a year to fabricate. Urged by his art dealer Robert Fraser to leave Britain to avoid the gossip columns and paparazzi, and onm advice given by Snow, Clarke moved to live and work in Düsseldorf and Rome. In 1982, Clarke produced the cover painting for Paul McCartney's solo album
Tug of War Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport that pits two teams against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a certa ...
, designing the cover together with Linda McCartney. In 1983 the Tate acquired an edition of ''The Two Cultures'' and Fraser, a key figure of the Swinging Sixties who first brought to Europe the work of
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...
and Roy Lichtenstein, reopened his gallery on Cork Street in London with a show of Clarke's paintings and with the aid of funding from him. The opening night received significant press coverage, and public interest and celebrity attendance led to the opening party spilling out into the street, necessitating its closure by police cordon. Before its closure following Fraser's death in 1986, the gallery went on to exhibit and introduce to the British public the works of Jean-Michel Basquiat and
Ellsworth Kelly Ellsworth Kelly (May 31, 1923 – December 27, 2015) was an American painter, sculptor, and printmaker associated with hard-edge painting, Color Field painting and minimalism. His works demonstrate unassuming techniques emphasizing line, c ...
, both of whom Clarke exhibited with, and
Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...
. In 1984, Clarke was commissioned to contribute to conservation architects Latham & Company's refurbishment of Henry Currey's Grade II listed Thermal Baths, adjacent to John Carr's
Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...
in Buxton; The baths had closed in 1963 and were at risk of demolition; Clarke's scheme, designed in 1984 and completed in 1987, was for a landmark barrel-vaulted modern stained glass ceiling to enclose the Grade II-listed former baths, creating the Cavendish Arcade. In 1989 a second project with Derek Latham and Co, for the regeneration of an inner-Leeds district, saw the Leeds Victoria Quarter created through the pedestrianising and covering-over of Queen Victoria Street. Clarke's proposal was to cover the length of the street with stained glass; the design, installed in 1990, was at the time the largest stained glass work in the world. In 1988, architect
Arata Isozaki Arata Isozaki (磯崎 新, ''Isozaki Arata''; born 23 July 1931) is a Japanese architect, urban designer, and theorist from Ōita. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2019. Biography Isozaki was ...
approached Clarke to collaborate with him on the Lake Sagami Building in Yamanishi. Clarke designed a composition of stained glass for the central lantern and a series of interrelated skylights that internally referenced elements of Isozaki's building and early designs, for which Isozaki in turn designed a lighting system that turned the work and building into a beacon at night. The same year, Clarke and Norman Foster proposed a major stained glass artwork for the new terminal building of
Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...
, by Foster + Partners. The collaboration, the first time in the history of stained glass that computer-assisted design had been utilised in the creative process, would have seen the east and west walls of the High-tech building clad in two sequences of traditionally mouth-blown, leaded stained glass. For technical and security reasons, the original scheme, which Clarke considered to be his ''magnum opus'', couldn't be executed.


1990s

In 1991, the British Airports Authority commissioned a second, smaller stained glass project from Clarke for Stansted Airport in place of his and Sir Norman Foster's original 1988 proposal. The artist designed two friezes and a 6-metre high tower of stained glass for a circulation area in the centre of the terminal which, in their composition, echoed elements of Foster's structure; by 1994 the tower had been removed to 'allow greater flow of traffic through the space', and later the friezes were likewise removed. In 1992, Clarke first collaborated with architect Will Alsop, on ''Le Grand Bleu'', the
Hôtel du département des Bouches-du-Rhône The Hôtel du département des Bouches-du-Rhône, known as ''Le Grand Bleu'', is the headquarters and council chambers of the Conseil General of Bouches-du-Rhône in Marseille, France. The Sterling Prize-nominated building, noted for its distinct ...
(the county government office of
Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and ...
) in Marseille. The building, now considered a major work of late 20th century architecture and a Marseille landmark, developed its visual identity through the design process with Clarke and Alsop's final version externally clad in
Yves Klein blue Yves Klein Blue was an Australian indie rock band from Brisbane, which formed in 2005 and disbanded in 2010. The line-up included Chris Banham on Drum Kit, drums and percussion, Sean Cook on bass guitar, Charles Sale on lead guitar and Keyboard ...
-coloured glass, rendered through a technique of ceramic glazing devised by Clarke to produce a 'skin of art' across the entire building; along the west elevation is a 1,200 m2 composition by Clarke in bands of ceramic glaze screenprinted onto the facade. In 1994, Zaha Hadid and Clarke developed an unexecuted collaborative proposal for the Spittelau Viaducts Housing Project, a waterfront redevelopment in Vienna, that incorporated integral, interrelated mosaic and traditionally-leaded stained glass. Clarke developed a new type of mouth-blown glass for the scheme, which he christened 'Zaha-Glas'. The project, which experienced delays in construction, was completed in 2006, without the artwork. The newly-developed 'Zaha-Glas' was first used architecturally in Clarke's scheme for the ceiling of Pfizer World Headquarters in New York, a landmark architectural art project which connected 42nd and 43rd Street in Manhattan through the length of the site with a composition in stained glass and Venetian glass mosaic. Following the death of Clarke's friend the artist Francis Bacon in 1992, in 1998 the English High Court severed all ties between Bacon's former gallery,
Marlborough Fine Art Marlborough Fine Art was founded in London in 1946 by Frank Lloyd and Harry Fischer. In 1963, a gallery was opened as Marlborough-Gerson in Manhattan, New York, at the Fuller Building on Madison Avenue and 57th Street, which later relocated i ...
, and his estate, and Clarke was appointed sole executor of the Estate of Francis Bacon by the High Court, on behalf of Bacon's heir John Edwards. Clarke transferred representation of Francis Bacon to the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York, where a major show was mounted of 17 previously unseen Bacon paintings recovered from his studio. A court case was brought against Marlborough, ''Professor Brian Clarke (Executor of the Will of Francis Bacon) v Marlborough Fine Art (London)'', alleging that the Gallery had underpaid Bacon for his work, asserted undue influence over him, and failed to account for up to 33 of his paintings, but following John Edwards' diagnosis with lung cancer in 2002 the litigation was settled out of court, with each side paying its own costs. During the legal process an undisclosed number of Bacon's paintings were recovered from Marlborough, and "vast quantities of correspondence and documents relating to the life of the artist were handed over by the gallery". In 1998, Edwards and Clarke donated the contents of Bacon's studio to the
Hugh Lane Gallery The Hugh Lane Gallery, officially Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and originally the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, is an art museum operated by Dublin City Council and its subsidiary, the Hugh Lane Gallery Trust. It is in Charlemont House ( ...
in Dublin. The studio at 7 Reece Mews had remained largely untouched since Bacon's death in 1992, and the decision was taken to preserve it for posterity. A team of archaeologists, art historians, conservators and curators moved the studio, wholesale, to Dublin. The locations of over 7,000 items were mapped, survey drawings made, the items packed and catalogued, and the studio was rebuilt, including the original doors, floor, walls and ceiling. In 2001 the relocated studio was opened to the public, with a fully comprehensive database, the first computerised record of the entire contents of an artist's studio.


2000s

In 2004, Clarke collaborated with Norman Foster on the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, a landmark building in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, built to house the triennial
Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions The Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions is held once every three years in Astana, Kazakhstan. The Congress was initiated by President Nursultan Nazarbaev of the Republic of Kazakhstan 19 years ago. 1st Congress of Leaders of ...
. Initial designs incorporated a stained glass ramp throughout the pyramidal structure; completed in 2006, the transparent upper portion is clad in 9700 square feet of stained glass, which forms the pyramid's apex. In 2010, Clarke was commissioned to design stained glass for the new Papal Chapel of the
Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain The Apostolic Nunciature to Great Britain is a diplomatic office of the Holy See in Great Britain. It is headed by the Apostolic Nuncio who has the rank of an ambassador. The parties agreed to exchange representatives at the ambassadorial level ...
, the diplomatic embassy of the Holy See, for
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United Kingdom The state visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the United Kingdom was held from 16 to 19 September 2010 and was the first visit by a Pope to Britain after Pope John Paul II made a pastoral, rather than state, visit in 1982. The visit included the beat ...
, the first state visit of a Pope to Britain. In 2020, it was announced that a new
Blue Coat School A bluecoat school is a type of charity school in England, the first of which was founded in the 16th century. Most of them have closed; some remain open as schools, often on different sites, and some of the original buildings have been adapted ...
, named the Brian Clarke Church of England Academy, would be built in Oldham to provide free school places to 1,200 pupils. The Academy was granted planning permission in April 2021.


Work

Paintings, stained glass, screenprints, collage, constructions, ceramics, mosaic, fresco, furniture, sculpture, tapestry, jewellery and ironmongery by Clarke can be found in architectural settings and private and public collections internationally, including the
Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
,
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
, the
Bavarian State Painting Collections The Bavarian State Painting Collections (german: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen), based in Munich, Germany, oversees artwork held by the Free State of Bavaria. It was established in 1799 as ''Centralgemäldegaleriedirektion''. Artwork includes ...
at Museum Brandhorst, Munich, the Sezon Museum of Modern Art,
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
, and the Corning Museum of Glass, New York. Major works include the five-story stained glass wall in the lobby of the
Al Faisaliyah Center The Al Faisaliyah Centre (or Al Faisaliah Centre, ar, برج الفيصلية) is a commercial skyscraper and mixed-use complex located in the business district of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 267-metre-high office tower, the centrepiece of the Fo ...
in
Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of th ...
for the King Faisal Foundation, the largest stained glass work in the world between 2000 and 2017, and
Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...
; 21,528 sq ft of stained glass for the Royal Mosque at
King Khalid International Airport King Khalid International Airport ( ar, مطار الملك خالد الدولي ', ) is located north of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, designed by the architectural firm HOK, and Arabian Bechtel Company Limited served as the construction manager o ...
); the mosaic and stained glass ceiling of Pfizer World Headquarters in New York, for which Clarke developed new techniques for the inclusion of two colours in a single sheet of opaque glass (in 1997), and a new stained glass facade (in 2001); stained glass, mosaic, ceramics, and turf-cut chalk drawing for Beaverbrook Coach House and Spa; the
Stamford Cone The Stamford Cone is a stained glass pavilion, commissioned from the artist Brian Clarke as a site-specific artwork for the headquarters of UBS AG and landmark feature for the city of Stamford, Connecticut in the United States. Designed and fabr ...
in
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
; windows for Linköping Cathedral in Sweden; the world's largest stage sets (for Paul McCartney's 1993 World Tour) and both the largest stained glass work in Great Britain and Europe, and the largest in the world. Other projects include ecclesiastical commissions in churches, mosques and synagogues across Europe, the US and the Middle East (including the Holocaust Memorial Synagogue in Darmstadt, built on the site of the former
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
headquarters, the Heidelberg Synagogue, and the Sinai Temple, Chicago; stage sets for Wayne Eagling's
Dutch National Ballet The Dutch National Ballet (Dutch: Het Nationale Ballet) is the official and largest ballet company in the Netherlands. History The Dutch National Ballet was formed in 1961 when the Amsterdam Ballet and the Nederlands Ballet merged. The company h ...
tribute to Clarke's friend
Rudolf Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( ; Tatar/ Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; rus, Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, p=rʊˈdolʲf xɐˈmʲetəvʲɪtɕ nʊˈrʲejɪf; 17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet ...
, and sets for an opera of ''
The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as ...
'' (''Hexenjagd'') directed by
Hugh Hudson Hugh Hudson (born 25 August 1936) is an English film director. He was among a generation of British directors who would begin their career making documentaries and television commercials before going on to have success in films. He directed the ...
at Staatstheater Braunschweig; the stained glass and mosaic of Norte Shopping, Rio de Janeiro; the Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre, Oldham; the stained glass ceiling of the Victoria Quarter Arcade in Leeds, which replaced Buxton as the largest stained glass work in the world; windows for the 13th century Cistercian Abbaye de la Fille-Dieu, Romont, Switzerland; collaborations in stained glass and
cyanotype The cyanotype (from Ancient Greek κυάνεος - ''kuáneos'', “dark blue” + τύπος - ''túpos'', “mark, impression, type”) is a slow-reacting, economical photographic printing formulation sensitive to a limited near ultraviolet ...
s with photographer Linda McCartney; the cover of Terence Davies' book ''Hallelujah Now'', and EP and album covers for
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
, Jools Holland, Worldbackwards and EMI Classical.


Unexecuted projects

Clarke's design of stained glass for the Great South Window of the grandstand at Royal Ascot Racecourse, as part of the £185 million 2004-2006 redevelopment funded by Allied Irish Bank and designed by Populous and Buro Happold, was to have been the world's largest work in the medium. The project received royal approval from Queen Elizabeth II, but problems arose during the redevelopment's construction that prevented the installation of the window, as redressing them would have necessitated a delay to reopening the racecourse, leading to the project being scrapped. Commissions for two roundel windows in
Derby Cathedral The Cathedral Church of All Saints Derby, better known as Derby Cathedral, is a cathedral church in the city of Derby, England. In 1927, it was promoted from parish church status, to a cathedral, creating a seat for the Bishop of Derby, w ...
(1976), and for the North Transept windows of Salisbury Cathedral (2014-2019), were not approved by the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
. Clarke worked on designs with Norman Foster for incorporating stained glass throughout Stansted Airport, and a glass tower for the Willis Faber and Dumas Building; Renzo Piano for a public sculpture for the
Shard Shard or sherd is a sharp piece of glass, pottery or stone. Shard may also refer to: Places * Shard End, a place in Birmingham, United Kingdom Architecture * Dresden Shard, a redesign of the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden, Germa ...
at London Bridge; Zaha Hadid on mosaic and stained glass for a building in Spittelau, Vienna, and KAPSARC, Saudi Arabia; with Will Alsop on mosaic and stained glass for Crossrail Paddington, and stained glass for
Hungerford Bridge The Hungerford Bridge crosses the River Thames in London, and lies between Waterloo Bridge and Westminster Bridge. Owned by Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd (who use its official name of Charing Cross Bridge) it is a steel truss railway bridge ...
; and stained glass for Stratford International.


Recognition and roles

Brian Clarke is former Visiting Professor of Architectural Art at the
Bartlett School of Architecture Bartlett may refer to: Places * Bartlett Bay, Canada, Arctic waterway * Wharerata, New Zealand, also known as Bartletts United States * Bartlett, Illinois ** Bartlett station, a commuter railroad station * Bartlett, Iowa * Bartlett, Kansas ...
,
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
; Honorary Fellow of the
Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...
; Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts; Hon. Doctor of Law (
University of Huddersfield , mottoeng = Thus not for you alone , established = 1825 – Huddersfield Science and Mechanics' Institute1992 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £2.47 million (2015) , chancellor = George W. Buckley , vice_chancell ...
); Doctor of Humane Letters, (
Virginia Theological Seminary Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the Unit ...
); former trustee and Chairman of the Architecture Foundation; Governor of the Capital City Academy Trust; Fellow, Trustee and Council member of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust; Honorary Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass; and a Freeman of the City of London.


Selected exhibitions


Television and film

* ''Omnibus – Brian Clarke: The Story So Far''. Diana Lashmore, BBC One, 15 March 1979. * ''Mainstream'' (presenter). BBC Two, 1979. * ''Time Lag Zero: Impressions of Brian Clarke''. Granada Television, 1980. * ''Linda McCartney: Behind the Lens'' (contributor). Nicholas Caxton, Arena, BBC One, 1992. * ''Architecture of the Imagination - The Window'' (contributor). Mark Kidel, BBC Two, 1994. * ''Architecture of the Imagination - The Stairway'' (contributor). Mark Kidel, BBC Two, 1994. * ''Omnibus – Norman Foster'' (contributor). Mark Kidel, BBC One, 1995. * ''Eye over Prague/Jan Kaplický – Oko Nad Prahou'' (contributor). Olga Špátová, 2010. * ''Frank Bragwyn: Stained Glass – a catalogue'' (contributor). Malachite Art Films/Libby Horner, 2010. * ''Colouring Light: Brian Clarke - An Artist Apart''. With contributions from Sir Peter Cook, Dame Zaha Hadid, and Martin Harrison. Mark Kidel, BBC Four, 2011.


Bibliography


Publications

* ''Architectural Stained Glass'', Brian Clarke. With contributions by John Piper,
Patrick Reyntiens Nicholas Patrick Reyntiens OBE (; 11 December 1925 – 25 October 2021) was a British stained-glass artist, described as "the leading practitioner of stained glass in this country." Personal life Reyntiens was born in December 1925 at 68 Ca ...
, Johannes Schreiter and Robert Sowers. Architectural Record Books, McGraw Hill, New York, 1979. * ''WORK'', Brian Clarke. Steidl Verlag, 2009. * ''Christophe'', Brian Clarke. Steidl Verlag, 2009. * ''A Strong Sweet Smell of Incense: A Portrait of Robert Fraser'', Brian Clarke, with Harriet Vyner. Pace Gallery London, 2015.


Contributions

* ''David Bailey's Trouble and Strife''. Thames and Hudson, 1980. * ''Into The Silent Land''. Yoshihiko Ueda, Kyoto Shoin, 1990. * ''Glasbilder Johannes Schreiter: 1987 – 1997'', 'A cry in the wilderness'. Beispiel Darmstadt, 1997. * ''Groovy Bob: The Life and Times of Robert Fraser''. Harriet Vyner,
Faber & Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel ...
, 1999. * ''Paul McCartney: Paintings'', Bulfinch, 2000. * '' Ludwig Schaffrath (1924-2011) – an appreciation'', ''The Journal of Stained Glass'', Vol. XXXIV. The British Society of Master Glass Painters, 2010. * ''
Burne-Jones The Burne-Jones Baronetcy, of Rottingdean in the County of Sussex, and of The Grange in the Parish of Fulham in the County of London, was a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 4 May 1894 for the artist and designer E ...
: Vast acres and fleeting ecstasies'', ''The Journal of Stained Glass'', Vol. XXXV. The British Society of Master Glass Painers, 2011.


Monographs and catalogues


Gallery

East window of All Saints Church Habergham by Brian Clarke.jpg, The East window of All Saints Church, Habergham, 1976 Stained glass of Olympus Optical Headquarters Hamburg by Brian Clarke, 1981.jpg, Stained glass of Olympus Optical Headquarters Hamburg, 1981 Lavers and Barraud Building stained glass gable window by Brian Clarke.jpg, Stained glass window for the former Lavers and Barraud Building, Endell Street, 1981 Nocturnal view of the Cavendish Arcade's stained glass by Brian Clarke at Buxton Thermal Baths.jpg, Nocturnal view of the Cavendish Arcade's stained glass canopy at Buxton Thermal Baths Stained glass of the Darmstadt Holocaust Memorial Synagogue (Neue Synagoge) by Brian Clarke, 1988.jpg, North wall of the New Synagogue, Darmstadt Victoria Quarter Leeds modern abstract stained glass canopy by Brian Clarke,1990.jpg, The street-length canopy of Victoria Quarter, Leeds, the largest stained glass work in Great Britain Modern abstract stained glass canopy of Victoria Quarter Leeds arcade by Brian Clarke, 1990.jpg, Victoria Quarter Stamford Cone at the UBS building in Stamford, Connecticut LCCN2012631404.tif, Interior view of Clarke's
Stamford Cone The Stamford Cone is a stained glass pavilion, commissioned from the artist Brian Clarke as a site-specific artwork for the headquarters of UBS AG and landmark feature for the city of Stamford, Connecticut in the United States. Designed and fabr ...
(1999), a 14m high stained glass sculpture for the headquarters of UBS The Stamford Cone by Brian Clarke during fabrication.jpg, The Stamford Cone, formerly the largest freestanding glass structure ever made, during fabrication Palace of Peace and Reconciliation, Astana, Architect, Norman foster.JPG, Interior of the stained glass apex of the Pyramid of Peace Brian Clarke stained glass and transillumination at the Abbaye de la Fille-Dieu.jpg, Stained glass window by Clarke for the 12th century Cistercian Abbaye de la Fille-Dieu, Romont (1996) Brian Clarke Spindles Oldham.jpg, The Spindles by Brian Clarke in his home town of
Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...
, celebrating the music of
Sir William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade (entertainmen ...
Marseille - Hôtel du Département (15830289594).jpg, Will Alsop's Hôtel du Département des Bouches du Rhône, with blue exterior and screenprinted glass cladding by Clarke Brian Clarke painted stadia and arena set designs for Paul McCartney's 1989-1990 World Tour.jpg, Clarke's painted stadia and arena set designs for Paul McCartney's 1989-1990 World Tour


Notes


References


External links

* * * * *
Brian Clarke's official website
*
Brian Clarke
in the
Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
collection * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Brian Living people English artists English stained glass artists and manufacturers People from Oldham 1953 births 20th-century English painters 21st-century English painters 21st-century English male artists English male painters Abstract painters English contemporary art English curators English mixed media artists English watercolourists English printmakers British scenic designers English ceramicists English sculptors British glass artists Collage artists British curators 20th-century English male artists Brian Clarke