Daphne McClure was an English artist, best known for her depictions of Cornwall.
Born in Helston, Cornwall in 1927, McClure studied first at Redruth Art School, before later moving on to Hornsley College of Art and the Central School of Art. She began her career working at the Royal Opera House from 1952, where she worked as a costume designer, notably for John Piper on The Magic Flute and for Barbara Hepworth on Midsummer Marriage. She also worked on the production of Stravinsky’s Firebird, in which Margot Fonteyn danced.
McClure relocated back to her native Cornwall in 1976, settling in Porthleven, a working port on the south coast of Cornwall where she would remain for over ten years. The colours of the sea surrounding the town dominated her palette at this time, shifting to an earthier palette upon moving with her family, further from the sea to a smallholding near her hometown of Helston in 1988. Here she began to focus on painting in series, choosing subject matter such as derelict tin mines and towns such as St Ives.
The artist became a member of both the Newlyn Society of Artists and the Penwith Society of Artists while painting in Cornwall. In 1995 McClure was commissioned by Tate St Ives to design a piece of work for their inaugural exhibition and in 2005 was invited to the prestigious artist’s residency at the Josef Albers Foundation in Connecticut USA.
Later in life, McClure lived and worked in Penzance which provided further influence on her work which she continued to produce and exhibit around Britain. She passed away in 2023 at the age of 96.
