Judith Clute (born 1942) is a Canadian painter, graphic designer, print-maker, and illustrator who has created cover art and illustrations for a number of well-known science fiction authors and magazines. Clute has British citizenship and works in London. She is also a tour guide with the Original London Walks.

Life and career

Judith Rosanne Wood James was born in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

in 1942, but grew up in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and matriculated from

Bishop Strachan School The Bishop Strachan School (BSS) is an Anglican day and boarding school for girls in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The school has approximately 950 students, including 70 boarding students, ranging from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 12 (approximately ...

in 1961. In the same year she was invited to be a painting apprentice for two years in Vancouver with Françoise Andre and Charles Stegeman. She married

John Clute John Frederick Clute (born 12 September 1940) is a Canadian-born author and critic specializing in science fiction and fantasy literature who has lived in both England and the United States since 1969. He has been described as "an integral part ...

in 1964 and they moved to

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

in London in 1969. From the beginning of her time in London, Clute became involved with the

New Arts Lab The Institute for Research in Art and Technology (IRAT, also known as New Arts Lab; Robert Street Arts Lab) was founded in London in 1969 by a group of artists and activists including painter/author Pamela Zoline, video Pioneer John Hopkins, pain ...

. In June 1970, she participated in an exhibition with

Pamela Zoline Pamela Zoline (or Pamela Lifton-Zoline; born on June 20, 1941) is an American science fiction writer, painter, and activist. Background Zoline was born in Chicago, Illinois but lived in the United Kingdom, especially London, for the first two dec ...

entitled "Judith Clute: Diagrams/Similes and Pamela Zoline: Things in the World" at the London New Arts Lab. In the exhibition's press release Clute's paintings were described as having "mount dcampaigns against easy reading". In 1975, for ''New Worlds'', Clute did an India ink illustration for "Daddy's Girl" by

Joanna Russ Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as '' How to Suppress Women's Writing'', as ...

. It marked the beginning of the style she is known for: "constructing things from disparate elements". For the next five decades, Clute continued to produce works in this style, participating in 37 painting exhibitions to date and creating illustrations for a number of well-known science fiction authors and magazines. ''Interzone'' #42 (December 1990), an all-female issue, used illustrations by Clute throughout. In ''Interzone'' #188, her artwork was displayed on the cover, and her life and work was discussed in an article entitled "Still Turning Motif's Upside Down" by Paul Brazier. In 2003, Clute acted in the film " A Short Film about John Bolton" directed by

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman (; born Neil Richard Gaiman; 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre, and screenplays. His works include the comic series ''The Sandman (comic book), The Sandma ...

. In 2018, Clute participated in the pop-up show ''An Arts Lab Continuum'' at Spitalfields Studios, with six of the other artists who had been involved in the 1960s and early 1970s in the arts labs of Drury Lane and Robert Street. In December 2019, Clute did a radio interview with Chiara Ambrosio for "The Raft, a London Story" on Resonance radio, 104.4 fm.

Reception

In 2006, Farah Mendlesohn compiled a

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

for John and Judith Clute entitled ''Polder: A Festschrift for John Clute and Judith Clute'', saying in the book's introduction: "Judith Clute has been referred to as a fantasy artist. Within the genre this tends to conjure up images of fantasy illustration, but Judith's work is not an illustration of fantasy, but part of the fantastic genre itself … Judith turns the world around, exposes the mimetic as gloriously unnatural." Later on in the book Candas Jane Dorsey comments that Clute "sees the world with that fresh, slightly sideways glance that imposes no filters, and draws no foregone conclusions. As a result of combining that directness of observation with an accumulation of wordless wisdom, Judith has an eccentric and unique artistic vision, and thus a unique and eccentric body of significant work." In ''Judith Clute's Tantalizing 37th album''

Geoff Ryman Geoffrey Charles Ryman (born 1951) is a Canadian writer of science fiction, fantasy, slipstream and historical fiction. Ryman has written and published seven novels, including an early example of a hypertext novel, '' 253''. He has won multiple ...

said about her one-person show at Camden Images Gallery that "this is Judith Clute's 37th exhibition … You could call it expressionist except that works express calm, fluidity, balance, and elegance rather than rage of energy. Even when the content seems to be screaming."

Awards

In 2017, Clute won the "Best Artist Award" delivered by the European Science Fiction Society.

Selected works

Cover art and illustrations

* 1983: Cover for '' The Entropy Exhibition'' by

Colin Greenland Colin Greenland (born 17 May 1954) is a British science fiction writer, whose first story won the second prize in a 1982 Faber & Faber competition. His best-known novel is '' Take Back Plenty'' (1990), winner of both major British science ficti ...

. * 1985: Three book covers for books by

published by

The Women's Press The Women's Press was a feminist publishing company established in London in 1977. Throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, The Women's Press was a highly visible presence, publishing feminist literature. Founding In 1977, Stephanie Dowrick cofo ...

The Female Man ''The Female Man'' is a feminist science fiction novel by American writer Joanna Russ. It was originally written in 1970 and first published in 1975 by Bantam Books. Russ was an ardent feminist and challenged sexist views during the 1970s with he ...

'', Extra(ordinary) People and ''The Adventures of Alex''. * 1989: Further Joanna Russ covers for The Women's Press: '' The Hidden Side of the Moon'' and '' We Who Are About To...''. * 1990: Cover and all interior images for the science fiction magazine ''Interzone'' 42. * 1995: Cover for ''Look at the Evidence; Essays and Reviews'' by John Clute. * 2000: Cover for ''Uncommon Places: Poems of the Fantastic'' by Judith Kerman and Don Riggs. * 2003: Cover for ''Scores: Reviews 1993–2003'' by John Clute. * 2005: Cover for ''Surroundings: Reviews 1992–1996'' by Gary K. Wolfe. * 2006: Cover and all interior illustrations for ''Chip Crockett's Christmas Carol'' by

Elizabeth Hand Elizabeth Hand (born March 29, 1957) is an American writer. Life and career Hand grew up in Yonkers and Pound Ridge, New York. She studied drama and anthropology at the Catholic University of America. Since 1988, Hand has lived in coastal Main ...

. * 2008: Etchings for Henry Wessells, in his Temporary Culture publication of ''Forever Peace. Stop War'' by Joe Haledeman. (Copies are held in the

Morgan Library and Museum The Morgan Library & Museum (originally known as the Pierpont Morgan Library and colloquially known the Morgan) is a museum and research library in New York City, New York, U.S. Completed in 1906 as the private library of the banker J. P. Morg ...

Yale Library The Yale University Library is the library, library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new Collegiate School of Connecticut, “Collegiate School," the library's co ...

and

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

.) * 2009: Cover for ''Canary Fever: Reviews'' by John Clute. * 2010: Cover for ''Bearings: Reviews 1997–2001'' by Gary K. Wolfe * 2011: Cover for ''Sightings: Reviews 2002–2006'', also by Gary K. Wolfe. * 2011: Cover for ''Pardon This Intrusion: Fantastika in the World Storm'' by John Clute. * 2011: Clute's painting "Bone Scan" was used for the cover of the online magazine, ''Salon Futura'', issue 5. * 2014: Cover for ''Stay'' by John Clute. * 2017: Album cover for Amanda Palmer and Edward Ka-Spel's '' I Can Spin a Rainbow''. * 2019: Illustration for a ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...

'' article entitled "A Universe of One's Own" by Nicole Rudrick reviewing ''The Future is Female!: 25 Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women, from Pulp Pioneers to

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin ( ; Kroeber; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author. She is best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the ''Earthsea'' fantas ...

''. The illustration was Clutes's cover design for Joanna Russ's ''Female Man''.

Selected bibliography

* The Association of Illustrators: 10th Annual, Rotovision, 1985, page 146, * The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Science Art Techniques, John Grant & Ron Tiner, Titan Books, 1996, page 163, * Fantasy Art Masters: The Best In Fantasy and SF Art World Wide, Dick Jude, Harper Collins, 2002, page 38-49 inclusive, * Paper Tiger Fantasy Art Gallery, edited by Paul Barnett, Paper Tiger, 2002, pages 30–35 inclusive, * Interzone #188, editor David Pringle, "Still Turning Motifs Upside Down", Paul Brazier, Interzone Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2003, pages 34–36 inclusive, * Polder: A Festschrift for John Clute and Judith Clute, edited by Farah Mendlesohn, Old Earth Books, 2006. * London's Arts Labs and the 60's Avant Garde, David Curtis, John Libbey Publishing, 2020, pages 117-118 inclusive,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clute, Judith 1942 births Living people 20th-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian women artists Artists from Edmonton Canadian women illustrators Canadian women painters Bishop Strachan School alumni