Clarke was born in Simon’s Town near Cape Town, in 1929. Much of his work is inspired by this beautiful coastal village where he lived until 1972, when he was forced to move to Ocean View under the Group Areas Act. He left high school in 1944 and was a dock worker until 1956 when, aged 27, a three month holiday to Teslaarsdal, a small farming village near Caledon in the South West Cape, began his artistic career.
With assistance from his lifelong friend, poet James Matthews, Clarke held his first solo exhibition in the newsroom of the newspaper The Golden City Post, in 1957. At that time he said: “Before my exhibition, I was just another coloured man. Our people took it for granted that only whites could do such things. Now they are becoming aware of the fact that we can do these things too; that we are human beings.”
Clarke was best known for his graphic prints, particularly his woodcuts, and in later years he moved into collage. He also used leather, glass, found objects and other mixed media to produce his colourful work.
His artistic career spanned more than six decades and he produced a large number of works and appeared in many exhibitions. Nevertheless, despite this experience and exposure, it has been said that his work was not given the full recognition it deserves. Described as a “quiet chronicler”, his work offers a critique of South Africa’s social and political history over 60 years.
He received six international as well as six national awards for his art and writing and had more than 70 solo exhibitions since 1957 in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Australia, USA, Norway, Israel, Austria and the UK. He also had many group shows in South Africa, Yugoslavia, Germany, Brazil, Austria, Italy, USA, Argentina, Norway, Botswana, Japan, Switzerland & France. In 2005 he was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga (Silver) by President Thabo Mbeki and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. His 2011 exhibition was entitled Listening To Distant Thunder.
A major retrospective exhibition of his work, Wind Blowing on the Cape Flats, took place in London in 2013.
Title: Morning Pastorale
Medium: Woodcut
Paper size: 14,5 x 19 cm
Edition size: 33
Title: Farm House
Medium: Oil on paper laid down on board
Size: 40 x 49 cm
