Horse and Rider is an exceptional, museum quality example of Geoffrey Clarke’s early iron work that has remained in the artist’s family collection for the last 70 years. Crafted in forged iron, it combines a contemporary method of making with a weathered piece of driftwood Clarke found on a Normandy beach during a Royal College of Art scholarship to France.

The year 1951 marked a meteoric rise for Clarke. Newly graduated with first-class honours and the RCA gold medal, his innovative approach led to widespread recognition. He shot to fame after exhibiting at the Festival of Britain and the Venice Biennale, which soon led to the commission of his monumental stained-glass windows for Coventry Cathedral.

Having attended a British Oxygen welding course in 1950 alongside Lynn Chadwick, Clarke experimented with new techniques to express a unique visual language of sign and symbol, exploring the human condition. While Clarke’s irons are widely considered his most important period, this focus was short-lived before he pioneered casting directly in aluminium. Consequently, these early iron works are extremely rare with examples held in esteemed collections including the Tate,The Fitzwilliam Museum, and The Ingram Collection.