Cliff Tyrell was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1906. A talented draughtsman, he initially contributed political cartoons to Jamaican magazines Awarded the Silver Musgrave Award in 1936, he moved to London in 1937 on a British Council scholarship to study at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. Creating sculptures in bronze and clay, as well as etchings and paintings, his work was shown by several prominent London galleries, although he struggled to achieve wider recognition within the British art establishment.
Painter Cliff Tyrell was born in Kingston, Jamaica on 20 January 1906. A talented draughtsman, he contributed political cartoons to magazines including Planters Punch and Jamaica’s foremost newspaper, The Jamaica Gleaner. Described by the latter as ‘our finest cartoonist’(Kingston Gleaner 1934, p. 12), he received the Silver Musgrave Award in 1936, from the Institute of Jamaica for accomplishments in art, science and literature. Tyrell was a close friend of prominent Jamaican painter, Carl Abrahams, who began work as commercial artist under his tutelage early in his career.
Tyrell moved to London in 1937 on a British Council scholarship to study at the Central School of Arts and Crafts (now Central St Martins, UAL) which was evacuated during the war to Northampton from 1940-41, and where he trained in painting and printmaking. At art school he became friends with German émigré artist, Klaus Meyer, who described Tyrell as ‘something of a curiosity’ and a ‘very charming fellow’ (National Life Stories). His friends at Central also included Jewish émigrés Susan Einzig, Géza Spitzer (later Francis Carr) and Leon Vilaincour, as well as British painter Paul Beadle. After leaving Chelsea, Tyrell served with the RAF briefly and worked in a north London torpedo factory. He contributed pen-and-ink illustrations to the publication African ABC for the British Ministry of Information (1939–1946). The booklet, whose aim was to promote support for the British War effort in its West African colonies, depicted family and village scenes, as well as pictures of the British Royal Family and armed forces. Postwar, Tyrell suffered something akin to a nervous breakdown. To aid his recovery, he was invited by a friend to Edinburgh, where he met his future wife, Margaret, with whom he subsequently returned to London. However, Tyrell struggled to make a living as an artist in the capital. As his daughter Theresa observed, the British Press did not accept his work due to what he felt was an ‘insurmountable colour prejudice’ (Kingston Gleaner1987, p. 8). She also recalled:‘They would make appointments to view his work but when he turned out to be a black man no-one would see him’ (Edwards 2017, p. 8).
During this time, Tyrell worked as a studio assistant to American émigré sculptor Jacob Epstein, sometimes also modelling for him: his torso was used in Epstein’s sculpture of Lucifer (1945, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery). Under Epstein he honed his skills as a sculptor, creating portrait heads cast in bronze, as well as sculptures in clay. He also continued to paint landscapes and still lifes inspired by his native Jamaica. However, Margaret soon tired of the bohemian lifestyle of Epstein’s milieu and moved to St Agnes, Cornwall in 1947. However, Tyrell’s network of friends and galleries was in London, and he only stayed with his wife and newborn daughter in Cornwall part-time during the 1950s. Among his London friends were the German-born artist, Rolf Brandt; Alfred Rozelaar Green, founder of the Anglo-French Art Centre in St. John's Wood; dealer William Ohly – founder of the Berkeley Galleries – and his son, Ernest.
Although he struggled to achieve recognition within the British art establishment, Tyrell’s work was nevertheless presented by several prominent London galleries in the 1940s. In 1942 he exhibited drawings at German-Jewish émigré Jack Bilbo's Modern Art Gallery, alongside Nigerian-born painter Oba Holloway and Austrian-Jewish émigré artist, Hugo Dachinger. In 1943 Tyrell's work was included in an exhibition of contemporary art at the Berkeley Galleries, alongside Thomas Moore, Thomas Hennell and Claude Rogers. The Times praised Tyrell’s painting of a man carrying a huge bunch of bananas (1937–38, V&A) which ‘has a solidity and a movement that are a little reminiscent of Daumier in conception’ (Times 1943, p. 6). Tyrell also contributed two sculptures (a portrait of his daughter, Theresa, and Torso) to Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture by 19th and and 20th-Century Artists at the Berkeley Galleries in 1947. The Observer art critic Maurice Collis singled out Tyrell’s work, describing him as ‘a pupil of Epstein’s’, adding that ‘his powerful small Torso shows him to be a sculptor of rising note’ (Collis 1947, p. 2). The Jamaican High Commission also commissioned works from Tyrell depicting memories of Jamaican life, examples of which are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. In the late 1950s, Tyrell gradually stopped making his own art, painting only occasionally, often using scrap materials because he could not afford anything better. He supported himself by making prototype pottery designs for Constance Spry and other floral designers. In the 1960s Tyrell worked in the Berkeley Galleries and settled permanently in St Agnes in 1970. He suffered with dementia in later life. Cliff Tyrell died in Holywell Bay, Cornwall, England on 28 August 1994. His work is represented in UK public collections, including the National Archives, Victoria and Albert Museum and University of Arts London (UAL).
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Cliff Tyrell]
Publications related to [Cliff Tyrell] in the Ben Uri Library