Train Passing through the Karoo

Notes

Although circumstances prevented Peter Clarke from extensive travel abroad, he was always acutely aware of international trends. He was drawn to German Expressionism and Japanese woodcuts, for instance, and he often leant heavily on the stylistic innovations of Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros. Looking at the present lot, a dreamy Karoo scene foregrounded by entangled, twinkling and wickedly sharp thorns, one might assume the influence of the great British visionaries, Samuel Palmer and Graham Sutherland (fig. 1).