Biography Sold

Presentation: Framed
Oil on canvas, 11 X 8 ins. (28 X 20.3 cms.)
Provenance: acquired directly from the artist's son.

In a gilded flat section frame

Fannie was one of Clara's six sisters. She was a year older than Clara.

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.

We are grateful to Michael Laurence for his assistance.

Thumbnail panels:

Clara Kinghoffer 1900-1970

Painter, printmaker and draughtswoman, born near Lemberg, Austria. She grew up and studied in London. At nineteen she had her first solo show, which was a huge success. She studied at Slade School of Fine Art and Central School of Arts and Crafts and in the late 1920s married the writer J.W.F. Stoppelman. She went on to show widely throughout Britain, the continent and North America, living latterly in London and New York. Klinghoffer was noted for her portraits, especially of children, and was a masterful draughtswoman in the Old Master tradition. Venues showing her work included the RA, Belgrave Gallery, NEAC and Venice Biennale. She traveled widely and painted many notable people, including the actress Dame Sybil Thorndike, the writer Isaac Bashevis Singer and her friend the artist Lucien Pissarro.

Examples of her work are included in the collections of the Tate Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum and Manchester City Art Gallery. Jacob Epstein considered her 'an artist of great talent, a painter of the first order . in the very first rank of draughtsmen in the world'. Michael Laurence, the artist's son, is currently producing a monograph on Klinghoffer.