Clara Klinghoffer moved as a child to England from Polish Galicia (modern-day Ukraine) in 1903 and grew up in London’s East End. She was never given the same recognition, until recently, as her older contemporaries and fellow European-Jewish artists, such as the Whitechapel Boys including David Bomberg and Mark Gertler.
However, her precocious talent was quickly recognised: at only fifteen,
Bernard Meninsky famously exclaimed of her work, 'Good Lord! That child draws like da Vinci'. After taking classes at the John Cass Institute and the Central School of Arts and Crafts, Klinghoffer enrolled in the Slade School of Art in 1918. Her first solo exhibition at nineteen, in 1920, prompted critical praise of her ‘dazzling radiance’ and ‘strongly individualistic and original’ work, which launched her artistic career.
Mainly working in portraiture, Klinghoffer sensitively depicted personality and atmosphere; her subjects included family members, individuals encountered on her travels, and fellow artists. This exhibition presents a selection of paintings and drawings, in part from Ben Uri’s own collection, as a celebration of Klinghoffer’s vital and historically overlooked contribution to British visual arts.
