PETER CLARKE (1929-2014)

The renowned South African artist and writer Peter Clarke passed away.

Clarke was a highly accomplished and versatile visual artist. Born in 1929 in Simon’s Town, South Africa, he worked across a broad spectrum of media and was an internationally acclaimed writer and poet. Working and living in Cape Town, Clarke has won six international awards for art and writing (Italy, USA and Taiwan), including an Honorary Life Membership of the Museum of African American Art, Los Angeles (1983).

His six South African awards for writing and art include three since 2000, not least the Order of Ikhamanga (Silver) by President Mbeki in 2005 and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. He has illustrated books published in South Africa, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Nigeria and the UK and since the 1950s, has written short stories, essays.

In 2013 Iniva (Institute of International Visual Arts) in London presented a major retrospective and first substantial exhibition of his work in the UK.