Artist SILVIA CLARKE (CANADIAN, 1911-1994)

Illustration of Custom House

Date1970

MediumInk

SupportPaper

Dimensions36 x 26.5 cm (frame)

Credit LineGift of Judith and Wilson Rodger, London, Ontario, 2014

Object number2014.001.131

Label TextThis is a drawing of the Custom House at the northeast corner of Richmond Street and Queens Avenue. Architect William Robinson designed the building in the Second Empire style and it opened in 1873. It was demolished in the early 1970s. Artist Sylvia Clarke was English, and was known for drawing houses and buildings. She was the secretary of Western Art League and lived on Waterloo St., north of Oxford Street, in London.Western University’s McIntosh Gallery writes: "Silvia Clarke was born in Cavendish, Suffolk, England in 1911 and educated at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (now known as Camberwell College of Arts) in London, England. During World War II, Clarke was employed by the BBC, and was also a champion in the sport of table tennis. In addition, she admitted to doing classified work for the British government (MI5) at the now-famous Bletchley Park, where British codebreakers worked in secret during World War II. Coming to Canada in 1947, Clarke lived in various places in Ontario (Toronto, Muskoka, and Port Stanley) before making London, Ontario her permanent home in 1954. In London, Clarke would hold a federal government position and would also work for the Faculty of Medicine at Western University. She attended night classes in art at H.B. Beal Secondary School, receiving instruction from London artists such as Jack Chambers, Clare Bice, Irene Taylor, and Herb Ariss. Clarke was a part of the Western Art League and the Gallery Painting Group. In the late 1960s and into the 1970s, Clarke was among those working towards building a new art gallery in London, a goal which would not be met until 1980 with the opening of the London Regional Art Gallery, today known as Museum London, at the Forks of the Thames River.

NameDrawing