Clare Leighton, 1898–1989, illustrator, author.
Clare Leighton belonged to the generation devastated by the Great War. She was just seventeen when her brother Roland, fell at Hébuterne, France in 1915.
Leighton grew up in St. John’s Wood, London, the daughter of successful writers of popular adventure books. Her father and and Uncle Jack, an artist and illustrator, encouraged her drawing and painting. She studied at the Brighton School of Art, the Slade School of Fine Art and the Central School of Arts and Crafts, where she got hands on experience with commercial printing. In 1939, after the dissolution of a long relationship with journalist Henry N. Brailsford, she left England for the United States.
Leighton is most famous for depictions of British agricultural life and the natural world. Her work appeared in literary and progressive journals, as well as books, written by herself and others.