Art

The morning was spent at the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square where we looked at paintings by the great masters in the permanent collection including Rembrandt, Titian,

Rubens, Velázquez, Raphael, da Vinci, Caravaggio and Michelangelo. Afterwards we walked down Whitehall past the Houses of Parliament to Victoria Tower Gardens to look at Rodin’s bronze sculpture The Burghers of Calais, which serves as a monument to an occurrence during the Hundred Years’ War with France. We proceeded to Millbank to look at a range of modern and contemporary art in Tate Britain. The collection includes works by Henry Tonks, Roger Fry and Peter Lanyon who were all once pupils at Clifton College! The trip gave the students a balanced exposure to both traditional and modern and contemporary art.

House Art Competition

On November 28th we had our House Art Adjudication with the Bristol-based artist Tom Hughes as adjudicator. Tom is an excellent painter who has exhibited with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, the Royal Academy and the National Portrait Gallery in London. Tom had to make some difficult decisions and he was very impressed with all the pieces. Clifton is a diverse school with pupils of different nationalities and cultural backgrounds, which showed in the work, making the exhibition extremely varied and interesting. The recipients were as listed on the right.

The coveted House Art Trophy is a bronze statuette of famous Old Cliftonian artist and critic Roger Fry. It was a close-run competition this year and the adjudicator decided to award the House Art Trophy to Hallward’s House.

In May, the Fourth and Fifth Form GCSE students visited the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff. The museum houses an impressive collection of art and artefacts from ancient Welsh history and natural history, fine examples of French Impressionist painting and twentieth century and contemporary art as well as old master works. The students enjoyed their visit and spent some time sketching their favourite exhibits.

The academic year drew to a close with our first proper Commem exhibition for three years. It featured a range of diverse work produced by students in oil paint, watercolour, pastel, acrylic, colouring pencils, etching, life drawings, traditional and digital photography, pinhole photography, sculpture and ceramics in a range of genres including narrative, portraiture, genre, landscape and still life. Brian Kim was awarded the Commem prize for art this year for his outstanding large oil paintings of street scenes with figures. We also contributed to the Arts Evening on 30th June with a display of scholars’ work in the Crypt. The Art Department always enjoys presenting our pupils’ work in these shows and we would like to thank parents, Old Cliftonians, members of staff and everyone else who supported our students by coming to see their work.

The David Cooksey Memorial Drawing Award

A prestigious new prize for drawing was inaugurated last year in memory of David Cooksey OC (WaH, 1983). David loved art and his brother Peter generously donated a trophy to be awarded in his name in the prize giving assembly at the end of the Summer Term. It is presented to the most outstanding draughtsperson in the school below the Upper Sixth, as the Year 13 prize is awarded at Commem. The David Cooksey Memorial Drawing Award has an elegant and apt quotation by Henry Matisse inscribed upon it: “creativity takes courage”. It is kept in the Head Master’s study and it is engraved with the names of the annual winners. This year it was awarded to Emma Guerman Guinzburg – well done to Emma!

Allan Wilkie Head of Art

House Art Prizes

Third Form Drawing

Alimat Albakova (HH)

Third Form Painting

Alimat Albakova (HH)

Third Form Ceramics

Florence Fraser-Hawkins (WT)

Fourth Form Drawing

Gabbi Phillips (WT)

Fourth Form Painting

Zoe Milligan (WT)

Fourth Form Ceramics

Chi Chi Sano (HLH)

Fifth Form Drawing

Florence Prole (WT)

Fifth Form Painting

Papa Obeng (SH)

Fifth Form Ceramics

Eleanor Patrick (HLH)

Lower School Photography

Joshua Hogwood (SH)

Lower Sixth Form Drawing

Elsa Wilkie (HH)

Lower Sixth Form Painting

Emma Guerman Guinzburg (OH)

Lower Sixth Form Ceramics

Mia Hodnett (HH)

Lower Sixth Form Photography

Rorie Johnson (NT)

Upper Sixth Form Drawing

Brian Kim (WaH)

Upper Sixth Form Painting

Lauren Franklin (WoH)

Upper Sixth Form Ceramics

Hannah Murray (WT)

Upper Sixth Form Photography

Haruhi Sano (HH)

Best House Display

Watson’s House

Best House Art Reps

West Town