This display of approximately 30 drawings, prints, posters, porcelain, and books by the Anglo-American artist Clare Leighton (1898–1989) comes from a local and rarely seen private collection. Born and raised in Great Britain, she moved to America in 1939, residing first in Maryland, then North Carolina, and finally in Connecticut. Leighton occupied a central position in the Arts and Crafts revival of British wood engraving and its related developments in America. Her book illustrations set a new standard in commercially produced literature, while her writing revived interest in early-to-mid-century rural culture. As the first woman to produce a study of the art of wood engraving (Wood-Engraving and Woodcuts, 1932), Leighton played a key role in popularizing the medium. This exhibition, which complements a larger display of Leighton’s work at the University of Richmond’s Harnett Museum of Art, includes examples of her watercolors, government posters, and wood engravings for novels by Thomas Hardy as well as volumes on southern and New England country life. It is organized for VMFA by Chief Curator and Cochrane Curator of American Art Sylvia Yount.

Clare Leighton

Clare Leighton, ca. 1950, albumen photograph

Rocky Shore

Clare Leighton, "Untitled (Rocky Shore)," 1923-27, watercolor on paper

The Bird Cage

Clare Leighton, "The Bird Cage" (from Thomas Hardy, "Under the Greenwood Tree"), 1940, wood engraving on paper

The Baptising

Clare Leighton, "The Baptising," 1952, woodcut

Fishermen and Nets

Clare Leighton, "The Net Menders (Fishermen and Nets)," 1949-50, wood engraving on paper

Gaspe Fisherman

Clare Leighton, "Gaspe Fisherman," 1948, wood engraving on paper