catalog text
OLIVER CLARE
British, 1853-1927
Still-Life with Yellow Apples and a Plum on a Mossy Bank
Oil on artist's panel | signed lower right "Oliver Clare"
Item # 410THG02P
An exquisite display of a sliced apple branch full of yellow apples leaning against a mossy bank with ivy draped along the drying moss while a single purple plum with a bead of moisture rests on the ground. Clare's attention to detail is on full display in this image, which speaks in his well-developed voice as an artist, capturing the fruit in the very distinct style he shared with his brother and father.
Born to the still-life artist George Clare in 1853, Oliver Clare and his brother Vincent both pursued a very distinct and individual specialization in unusually precise, intricately detailed and finely finished still-life scenes, mostly of fruit and flowers. Together with his brother, Oliver studied under his father and developed heavily on the intricate textured stippling techniques of George Clare; he is generally considered to be the best painter from the Clare family. He exhibited extensively at the Royal Society of Birmingham Artists, showing no less than eighteen paintings there over the course of his career. While he spent most of his life in Birmingham, he spent the late 1870s and early 1880s living in London where exhibited between 1873 and 1883 at least two paintings the Royal Society of British Artists (Suffolk Street) and one at the Royal Academy. He further exhibited at the the Walker Art Gallery of Liverpool and the Manchester City Art Gallery.
Artist Listings & Bibliography:
- E. Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Vol. III, p. 1062
- A Dictionary of Artists who have exhibited works in the Principal London Exhibitions from 1760 to 1893, Algernon Graves, Kingsmead, 1973, p. 54
- Dictionary of British Art, Vol. IV, Victorian Painters: The Text, Christopher Wood, 1995, p. 100
Measurements: 10 7/8" H x 8 7/8" W [panel]; 13 5/8" H x 11 11/16" W [frame]
Condition Report:
Very fine original condition. Carefully cleaned by our conservator. Appears to be free of retouch under UV examination. Contemporary frame with minor edge wear. Ready to place.