Aquatint on paper
Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/geoffrey-clarke-912" aria-label="More by Geoffrey Clarke" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Geoffrey Clarke</a>
Crucifixion
Presented anonymously 1974
abstraction
actions: postures and motions
Bible: New Testament
contorted
Crucifixion
diseases and conditions
figure
fine art and design, named works
from recognisable sources
Grünewald, Mathias, ‘Isenheim Altarpiece’, 1512-1516
objects
pain
people
religion and belief
<p>According to the artist, this image was 'the nearest I ever came to representational distortion of the human figure.' Clarke rarely depicted the Crucifixion. He was more interested in the idea of the Cross as a symbol, than in depicting the physical fact of the Crucifixion. The inspiration for this image was a black and white reproduction of the Isenheim Crucifixion at Colmar in Alsace, painted by Matthias Grünewald and completed in 1515. Clarke noted the use by Grünewald of a twisted, very distorted image to convey the full horror of the subject.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
paper print aquatint
Crucifixion
image: 410 × 295 mm
Presented anonymously 1974
<p>According to the artist, this image was 'the nearest I ever came to <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/representational" title="Glossary definition for 'Representational'"><span>representational</span></a> distortion of the human figure.' Clarke rarely depicted the Crucifixion. He was more interested in the idea of the Cross as a symbol, than in depicting the physical fact of the Crucifixion. The inspiration for this image was a black and white reproduction of the Isenheim Crucifixion at Colmar in Alsace, painted by Matthias Grünewald and completed in 1515. Clarke noted the use by Grünewald of a twisted, very distorted image to convey the full horror of the subject.</p>
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2004-08-18T00:00:00
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<p>
<b>Geoffrey Clarke b.1924</b>
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<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/clarke-crucifixion-p01011" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P01011</span></a> Crucifixion 1954</p>
<p>Inscribed ‘2/25 1954’ b.l.; ‘C’ in the plate and ‘Clarke’ b.r.<br/>Sugar aquatint, 16¿<b> x</b> 11 ½ (40.4<b> x</b> 29.2) on paper 23<b> x</b> 18 3/16 (58.4<b> x</b> 46.2).<br/>Presented anonymously 1974.</p>
<p>For ‘Crucifixion’ the artist used an aquatint ground on a steel plate. PR324 is one of possibly three prints extant, the plate having been cut up and destroyed in error.</p>
<p>The artist wrote that this was ‘the nearest I ever came (since student days) to representational distortion of the human figure.’ While discussing symbolism in his thesis (<i>loc. cit.)</i> Clarke wrote: ‘The more vividly the symbol can be recognized, the more people can gain from seeing it, for example the Cross; but the more realistic the symbol, the more away from the truth and concerned with the physical it becomes, for example the Crucifix.’ He confirmed this stance in his letter (August 18): ‘The Cross is more important than the Crucifix. The Crucifix has never been important to me.’ This print, therefore, was probably his only depiction of the Crucifixion as such (besides its automatic inclusion in the Stations of the Cross sculptures), and the background to it was described in the same letter. ‘The inspiration and model was a black and white reproduction of Matthias Grünewald’s “Crucifixion” (Colmar) which Clarke used to pass daily on [his] way up to the Coventry stained glass studio at the Royal College of Art.’ He felt that if the Crucifixion was to be depicted ‘that was the way to do it.’ He continued: ‘The understandable distortion through actual suffering of the man on the cross is mild and this becomes twisted, distorted and exaggerated to get over the message, the impact, the non-representational;—the perfect machine-made cube is also mild and without emphasis, but take away the machines and make the cube and that cube takes on life—and its life is exaggerated by controlled distortion.’</p>
<p>Published in <i>The Tate Gallery Report 1972–1974,</i> London 1975.</p>
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Catalogue entry
2012-07-27T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction actions: postures and motions Bible: New Testament contorted Crucifixion diseases and conditions figure fine art and design, named works from recognisable sources Grünewald, Mathias, ‘Isenheim Altarpiece’, 1512-1516 objects pain people religion and belief