Clare Veronica Leighton: Bridging Nations Through Wood Engravings

Clare Veronica Leighton (1898 – 1989) was a British wood engraver, stained glass designer, and writer. She is one of the most significant printmakers of the 20th century. She was born and studied in England but became an American in 1945. She wrote and illustrated numerous books and became well known for her focus on rural subjects in an urbanised society.

Education

Leighton took up painting at an early age, encouraged by her artist uncle Jack Leighton, and attended art schools at Lowestoft and Brighton. She studied wood engraving at the Slade School of Fine Art and the Brighton School of Art. She developed a political and aesthetic affinity for rural workers during European visits. Consequently, she portrayed them with dignity and reverence.

Biography – Clare Veronica Leighton

Her wood engravings were primarily figurative and produced as fine art and illustrations for mass production. Her artwork was collected in a book that was published in 1930 and had an introduction by Hilaire Belloc. She contributed illustrations to several books, including Emily Brönte’s Wuthering Heights and The Farmer’s Years: a Calendar of English Husbandry (with her text and decorations). Country Matters and Four Hedges: a Gardener’s Chronicle (1935) (1937). She authored the books “Wood Engravings and Woodcuts” and “Wood Engravings of the 1930s” for The Studio. 

Move to the United States

During the late 1920s and 1930s, Leighton visited the United States on several lecture tours. At the onset of World War II, she moved to America. Initially, she lived on Long Island but later moved to Baltimore. In 1943, Leighton taught at Duke University, and in 1945, she became an American citizen. She eventually settled in Woodbury, Connecticut, where she worked until the late 1980s.” She moved to the USA in 1939, creating several stained-glass windows and the 1951 collection of twelve engravings for Wedgwood plates. 

Exhibitions – Clare Veronica Leighton

In 1939, she represented British wood engravers at the Venice Biennale. Her 1938 Picking Primrose’s wood engraving was displayed in the London Hayward Gallery’s “Thirties” exhibition in 1979–1980.

Sources

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

“Clare Veronica Leighton.” Artist Info, http://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.4639.html. Accessed 18 June 2023.

Leighton, C. (2023). Clare Leighton’s Rural Life: An Anthology. United Kingdom: Bodleian Library.

Leighton, C. (2017). Country Matters. United Kingdom: LITTLE TOLLER BOOKS.

“Works – Clare Veronica Leighton – People – eMuseum.” Works – Clare Veronica Leighton – People – eMuseum, 1 Jan. 1946, aggv.ca/emuseum/people/3308/clare-veronica-leighton;jsessionid=590CBD44FCD1CC8852161EE141100A27/objects.

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