Clara Quien, the Sculptress of Mahatma Gandhi
Clara Quien (1903 to 1987) was a British artist and humanitarian, the only sculptress granted the privilege of sculpting a life size statue of Gandhi from life. She lived in Kashmir and India between 1935 and 1952, and was commissioned to create portraits of Nehru, Sardat Patel, Indira Gandhi, the Maharaja of Patiala, Lord and Lady Mountbatten, the Shah of Iran and other dignitaries like Yehudi Menuhin. In 1951 she won first prize in the All India Exhibition in Bombay for her life size sculpture called ‘The Active Buddha’.
Clara, who grew up in China and Switzerland, studied art under the famous Maestro Andreotti in Florence, and later extended her studies in Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam. Clara had already made herself a name in Europe before she motored out to India from Holland in a T-Ford model in 1935, the fifth car to attempt the trip and the third to arrive. In her later years she explored painting and abstract sculpture stimulated by her capacity to see sound in form and colour as a synesthete. Rhea Quien is pleased to share with you the powerful and creative work of her mother: a remarkable woman artist of the 20th century, whose message is as valid now as during her life time.
The University of Cambridge Centre of South Asian Studies is hoping to preserve two very important works by Clara Quien, and is running a fund-raising project. For more information see Artworks By Clara Quien.
For more information about the works of Clara Quien, see this slideshow presentation.
Bronze life size statue of Gandhi:
