One of the greatest exploiters of wood engraving this century was born in London and studied art at Brighton School of Art, the Slade and the Central School, where she studied wood-engraving under Noel Rooke, a master of the technique. The large majority of Leighton's work was in the medium of wood engraving. Favourite subjects include rural scenes and she illustrated a number of books including, Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native, 1929, Gilbert White's Natural History of Selborne, 1941 and a number of others. She produced an excellent practical manual on the technique, Wood-Engraving and Woodcuts, 1932 and also taught. One of the best anecdotes about the artist was when she left her teaching post, a tearful older girl she had taught protested, "You can't leave us. You taught us to see beauty in chimney pots." Her style has a nobility of form reminiscent of Eric Gill, whom she knew well but is also characterised by long swinging lines and always captures a sense of movement.

References:
Boston Public Library. Clare Leighton/An exhibition, 1977: nos 242;
Pat Jaffe. The Wood Engravings of Clare Leighton, 1992
Anne Stevens and David Leighton. Clare Leighton. Wood Engravings and Drawings, Ashmoleon, 1992.