With its proximity to the cultural hub of New York City and its quieter suburban and rural landscapes, Connecticut was fertile ground for artists and writers in the period of Modernist movements between 1913 and 1979. Many of these cultural figures are well known through biographical and critical studies. Creative Places seeks to show how place played a significant role in creative work, and how in turn the artists and writers influenced communities in Connecticut.
Claire Leighton
Illustration, Printmaking, Journalism/Non-Fiction
1901 – 1989
- Biography/Description of Work
Wood engraver and illustrator, Leighton was born in London, at a home frequented by London’s literati, social reformers, and intellectuals. She often did illustrations for her father, fiction writer Robert Leighton’s books, and began her own career with education at the Brighton School of Art and Slad School of Fine Arts in England. She emigrated to the US in the late 1930s and became a naturalized citizen in 1945. Her imagery and writing often focused on agrarian life and rural images at a time when technology, industry and urban environments were growing. Over her career she created hundreds of prints and illustrated 65 books, 14 of which she herself had written. She settled in Woodbury in 1950.
- Sources view
- Uconn database, Rachel Carley, Heller, Jules and Heller, Nancy G., North American Women Artists of the 20th Century: A Biographical Dictionary, Garland Publishing, Inc., New York & London, 1995, pg. 333-334, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Leighton, http://www.bookroomartpress.co.uk/biographies/18.html, http://www.artrepublic.com/biographies/292-clare-leighton.html, http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/artist/Leighton,+Clare+Veronica+Hope, http://www.askart.com/askart/l/clare_veronica_hope_leighton/clare_veronica_hope_leighton.aspx, http://allinsongallery.com/leighton/index.html, http://maiermuseum.org/2010/02/22/912/, Clare Leighton: the growth and shaping of an artist-writer, published 2009 Clare Leighton Article - New York Times - 1933-6-25, Clare Leighton Article - New York Times - 1935-12-22, Clare Leighton Article - New York Times - 1936-11-8, Clare Leighton Article - New York Times - 1939-11-12, Clare Leighton Article - New York Times - 1942-12-20, Clare Leighton Art
- Associated Resource(s)