Art review: Prunella Clough

One of Britain’s most important and undervalued 20th century painters gets her first major show in many years. The exhibition, which is taking place at Mayfair’s Osborne Samuel gallery, consists of paintings, collages, drawings and reliefs, many of which focus on Clough’s favourite subject: women at work. 

 

At a time when depictions of women tended towards the romantic, Clough imparted a seriousness by showing them as functioning participants in industry. Despite showing women in a public, professional setting, the paintings – even true of her later more abstract work – are disarmingly intimate.