Geoffrey Clarke (1924-2014) was a pioneering sculptor, producing vibrant work that captured the spirit of the post-war British art scene. Clarke came to prominence whilst studying stained glass at the Royal College of Art and was subsequently commissioned for the windows of Coventry Cathedral. He developed a process of casting in aluminium that established his reputation and was in such demand that by his late 30s he was travelling between projects by helicopter.
In the 1940s Newnham had received a bequest from Miss Muriel Ada Sneyd Carew Hunt to create a memorial in stained glass to ‘the noble work done by women in the Great War’. The bequest was used to commission Clarke for a series of four architecturally integrated glass and steel sculptures for the atrium of the new Principal’s Lodge, working with architect Louis Osman.
Clarke’s four sculptures represent the seasons, with each piece described by Clarke as a ‘plant-like form in various stages of development. The plant symbolises man. The horizontal represents the surface of the earth’. Clarke continues by describing the sculpture representing summer as ‘Plant opens revealing bloom. The sun is high. Root develops’.
The sculptures have been moved to different locations in College following the redevelopment of Lloyd Lodge in the 1990s, including to the Library and the Strachey buildings. A new location for the display of these remarkable and distinctive sculptures is being explored, with advice from the Stained Glass Museum in Ely.
Image: Summer from The Four Seasons – An Allegory (1958) by Geoffrey Clarke © Nigel Cassidy