clara klinghoffer

The Jewish Artist Clara Klinghoffer emigrated from Austria to the East End of London with her family in 1903.

We, here at Blondes Fine Art in Hertfordshire, first became aware of her and her contribution to the Art world when we acquired the studio collection of work by Clara Birnberg. Within that collection was a sketch of Klinghoffer by Birnberg . It wasn’t known , until then, of the association between the two woman although not surpising as they lived within walking distance of each other in the Eastend. Klinghoffer was younger than Birnberg and not as well acquainted with the Whitechapel Boys. Both Klinghoffer and Birnberg studied at the Slade School of Fine Art ( Klinghoffer 1918–20) , but not at the same time . At the time both artists were making their respective ways in Art and there must have been a close association between the two sharing so much in common .

Klinghoffer was heralded at a remarkably young age with her first solo exhibition, held at the Hampstead Gallery in 1919, she exhibited widely in the UK, including at the 1924 Venice Biennale, and the Redfern Gallery (1925) and RA (1933) in London. She also travelled extensively throughout her life, moving to Amsterdam in 1929 and New York in 1939 with the onset of war . 

Bernard Meninsky taught her and was a great supporter of her work . She was dubbed ‘The girl who could draw like Raphael.’She was heavily influenced by the High Renaissance artists and her drawings were comparable to the great Italian masters. Her early paintings, however, were different, with bold use of colour and naïve execution, clearly showing the modernist influence of fellow Jewish artists such as her teacher Bernard Meninsky.

Klinghoffer’s move to the USA saw her set up a new life and studio where she became famous for her portraits of the wealthy and well known . She had many sisters and often used them as models in her early days in London . She famously made portraits of Sir Winston Churchill and Vivien Leigh .
Her work is held by Ben Uri , Tate and National portrait gallery collections.