Prunella Clough

Mercury Gallery, London, where acquired by Mrs P. Loftus, 15th December 1989
Sale, Christie's South Kensington, 13th June 2002, lot 394, where acquired by the present owner

Unexamined out of frame. The sheet does not appear fully laid down, but is at least partially adhered to a backing support. The sheet is very slightly unevenly cut, with traces of light studio detritus in keeping with the nature of the Artist's materials and techniques. The collage elements are very slightly lifting. This excepting the work appears in very good overall condition. Housed behind glass in a thin gilt frame, set within a cream mount. Unexamined out of frame. Please contact the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present lot.
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Bagley’s Lane is situated in Fulham, south west London and close to where Clough had her studio in Moore Park Road. It may be a desirable address today but when the artist lived locally it was somewhat run down with several warehouses and a transport repair depot. The brown, crenellated motif, perhaps relating to industrial roof tops, appears in several other paintings and prints by Clough (see Brown Wall, (1964), Bell Flower, (1990) and Quarry Landscape). The horizontal blue and orange stripes (to be read, perhaps, as a skyline), can also be found in the painting Screened Off, (1995).

Much of Clough’s work was produced in an improvisatory manner, while she used up whatever materials she had to hand in the studio. She hated wasting unsuccessful drawings and paintings, paper or spare materials, preferring instead to re-use, cannibalise and transform them into something new and vital. In the present work, Clough has incorporated torn and cut paper with coloured pastels – a favourite combination.

We are grateful to Gerard Hastings, author of Prunella Clough and Keith Vaughan: Visions and Recollections, Pagham Press, (Menier Gallery), 2014, for compiling the catalogue note for the present work.