Glove

One of Prunella Clough’s friends was the painter and critic John Berger. While teaching part-time at a college in Richmond, he took the overland train from the City of London to Kew Gardens, then called the Broad Street Line. It stopped regularly at Willesden Junction and Berger, looking down at its mainline marshalling yards, was fascinated by them. He drew them, later turning these observations into lithographs, which he printed in Prunella Clough’s studio. On a couple of occasions they visited Willesden together. On an almost deserted stretch of the Permanent Way, Clough spotted a pair of canvas gloves dropped by a platelayer. He recalled: ‘She tried them on laughing. They were huge and her wrists like her legs were very thin.’ The image of a workman’s glove often reappeared in her art, signalling her interest in workers and work.

We are very grateful to Frances Spalding for preparing this catalogue entry.