Private
Collection
Collection
Clara Klinghoffer
(1900 - 1970)
The Artist’s Sister, 1919
Private Collection
Clara Klinghoffer (1900 - 1970)
Titled on label to the reverse 
Oil on panel, 18 x 18 in. (45.7 x 45.7 cm.)
Size:
Height – 45.7cm
Width – 45.7cm
Provenance: acquired directly from the artist’s son
This painting depicts Rose, one of Jacob Epstein’s favourite models and
one of Clara’s six sisters. At the age of 19, Klinghoffer was already
receiving considerable critical acclaim as one of the outstanding women
painters of her generation. According to the Daily Telegraph, May 3,
1920, she was able to ‘draw like Raphael’ and ‘must be regarded as a new
star . Her work is strongly individualistic and original, her point of
view strictly her own, her power great . If she elects to do a thing it
is done with masterful force.‘
The forthcoming monograph by Michael Laurence will undoubtedly play a
large role in bringing Klinghoffer’s work back to critical acclaim.
Clara Klinghoffer emigrated from Austria to England with
her family in 1903. She studied art at the John Cass Institute
in Aldgate and the Central School of Arts and Crafts before
enrolling at the Slade School of Fine Art (1918’20).
Gaining immediate critical acclaim at a remarkably young
age with her first solo exhibition, held at the Hampstead Gallery
in 1919, she exhibited widely in the UK, Europe and North
America in the ensuing years, including at the 1924 Venice
Biennale, and the Redfern Gallery (1925) and RA (1933) in
London. She also travelled extensively throughout her life,
moving to Amsterdam in 1929 and New York in 1939.
Much of Klinghoffer’s work is characterised by a focus on the
human figure, and she made portraits of many eminent sitters ‘
such as Sir Winston Churchill, Vivien Leigh and Isaac Bashevis
Singer ‘ notable for their relaxed, somewhat candid composition.
