Art commentator and critic Adrian Clark

I am an active writer and commentator on art, and art history.

My particular passion lies in British and Irish artists of the mid-20th century. Having started as a collector, my fascination led on to research and writing.

A City lawyer by profession and a historian by training, I seek to bring to bear these disciplines in my analysis. I have written extensively in The British Art Journal, reviewing exhibitions and books, with some longer articles involving original research. This website reproduces many of the reviews, as well as summaries of the longer articles.

Books

My first book, British and Irish Art 1945-1951 From War to Festival, was published in 2010, and a biography of Peter Watson is in final stages of completion. Other projects have included a commission for the Royal Academy.

British and Irish Art 1945-1951: From War to Festival

British and Irish Art 1945-1951

Published in 2010, this book radically re-examines a crucial period of modern British and Irish art, from a historical viewpoint.

By studying the intricate mechanisms whereby artists turned oil on canvas into money – or not – the book explains how artists’ reputations were made or broken. Individual artists discussed include Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Graham Sutherland, Gerard Dillon, Robert Colquhoun, Paul Nash and many more.

To purchase or inquire, CLICK for Paul Holberton (publishers)

Peter Watson

Peter Watson (1908-1956) supported a whole range of British artists financially and in other ways. He funded the creation of the cultural journal, Horizon, and helped to create the Institute of Contemporary Arts. He also built up an extremely wide ranging collection of art, by many of the great 20th century masters, and also the leading British artists of the time.

Whilst Watson gets frequent mentions in surveys of the cultural scene, there has been no book about him. My purpose in writing a full biography is to seek to place his varied life and achievements into their proper context.

For inquiries, please contact agents, Andrew Lownie Literary Agency, or please click on this link if you would like to register for pre-publication information.

AJL McDonnell

AJL McDonnell was the London representative for the Felton Bequest for some years after the War, from 1947 to his death in 1964. The Felton Bequest was established in the early years of the 20th Century by Alfred Felton “to support culture and the community”, with half the funding supporting charities in the State of Victoria in Australia. The initial capital was the enormous sum of £378,000, which meant that its purchasing power in the 20th C art world has been prodigious. McDonnell worked closely with Sir Kenneth (later Lord) Clark to buy sensational works of art in the London market. These works, which included Old Masters and modern works, then passed to the National Gallery of Victoria.

I have been gathering material about McDonnell to write a study of him. His art market activities are complementary to my studies of that market in my first book. I shall very much welcome contact from those with an interest in him.

The Art Contributions to Horizon

1st Feb 2013, Sotheby’s Institute of Art

I was invited to participate in a very interesting conference, entitled The Art Press in the Twentieth Century, focussing on the period 1930-1969.

At the heart of Horizon Magazine’s artistic output were the decisions taken by Peter Watson, whose tremendous impact on the British art world of the mid-20th century is only now beginning to be recognised.

A transcript of my lecture, The art contributions to Horizon (1940–50), will be available in due course.

Latest blog posts

  • British painters in Iceland

  • Interesting to note which of our group of artists worked in Iceland.One,Ravilious,is well-known for his Icelandic work and he died there in an accident in 1942.He had been there as an official War artist.His replacement was Thomas Hennell and there are gorgeous examples of his watercolours done in [Read More...]

  • George Cukor and Peter Watson

  • Watson knew the legendary gay American film director,George Cukor,well enough to ask him to sponsor him in connection with Watson’s visa application to visit America in the later 1940s.One wonders if the American immigration authorities would have opened a file on Watson.

  • Greta Garbo,Cecil Beaton and Peter Watson

  • Cecil Beaton had a well-known relationship with Greta Garbo over a number of years. It was not an easy relationship. One aspect of it which Beaton did not relish was the nexus between him, Peter Watson and Greta Garbo. As everyone who knows anything about Beaton’s life knows,Beaton [Read More...]

  • David Smary

  • At Ightham Mote yesterday my eye was drawn to a portrait of the American, Charles Henry Robinson, who saved the house in the 1950s. It was by an artist identified as David Smary. Competently painted in the 1950s/60s, I assumed he would turn out to be a known portrait [Read More...]

  • Looted Art

  • I went to a lecture at the London Jewish Cultural Centre last night. The chairman was David Glasser, who is chairman of the Ben Uri Gallery, and the main speaker was Howard Spiegler, a New York lawyer who specialises in acting for claimants. David Lewis, the chairman of the [Read More...]

  • Debora Arango

  • I have just returned from a trip to America. In the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte is an extraordinary exhibition of pictures by the Colombian artist, Debora Arango (1907-2005). These are striking and disturbing pictures. The obvious English analogy is the work of Paula Rego. Many pictures [Read More...]

  • Norman Fowler and Nevis

  • Just returned from the beautiful Caribbean island of Nevis. There on 23rd March 1971 Norman Fowler was found dead in what may have been mysterious circumstances. Fowler was Peter Watson’s last boyfriend, his main heir and the only person present in Watson’s flat when he drowned in his [Read More...]