Claire Partington (b. 1973), lives and works in London is best known for her large-scale ceramic figures and installations. After studying sculpture at Central Saint Martins in the 1990’s she moved away from making art to pursue a career in the museums and galleries that had initially inspired her interest in art and design, notably working at the V&A museum, the British Library, and the Wellcome Collection. Following a change of career a decade later, she returned to making and attended ceramics classes at night school, where she began to make illustrative and narrative figurative works that draw on her interests in art and social history, mixed with a contemporary social commentary and sense of the surreal.
Solo Exhibitons include Princess, Mindy Solomon, Miami, US; The Limerents, Winston Wächter, Seattle, US (2024), When the rocks were soft, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, UK (2023), Winter Coat, Arusha Gallery, Bruton, UK; Claire Partington at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK; En Plein Air, Winston Wächter, Seattle, US (2022), Britainton, James Freeman Gallery, London, UK (2021), Gods and Monsters, Untitled, Art. San Francisco, US (2020), The Hunting Party, Winston Wächter, Seattle, US (2019), Taking Tea, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, UK (2018), A Cautionary Tale, James Freeman Gallery, London, UK (2017).
Group Exhibitions include Pedigree, OHSH Projects, London, UK; Monsters of the Deep, Aberdeen Art Gallery, UK; Common Ground, The Wilson, Cheltenham, UK (2025), Historical Fiction, KochXBos, Amsterdam, NL, Bookworks, James Freeman Gallery, London, UK (2022), London Making Now, Museum of London, UK, Fairyland, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, US (2021), Cranach: Artist and innovator, Compton Verney, UK (2020), Claire Partington & Charles Freger, James Freeman Gallery, London, UK (2019), Material : Earth. Myth Material Metamorphosis, Messums, UK (2018), doing identity. Die Sammlung Reydan Weiss, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany (2017), I Prefer Life, Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Germany; Divine Decadence, Kasteel van Gaasbeek, Belguim (2016), Hey Act III, Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, France; My Blue China, Musée Ariana, Geneva, Switzerland; SWEET 18, Kasteel d'Ursel, Belgium (2015), Im Dialog mit dem Barok, Neues Schloss Schleißheim, Germany (2013).
Highlights & Collections
Claire Partington has received wide recognition for her work, including the Contemporary Art Society Commission, Walker Art Gallery (2022), Porcelain Room Commission, Seattle Art Museum (2018) and Winner of the Virginia A Groot Foundation Grant (2018). Collections that feature Partington’s work include Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), Seattle Art Museum (US), Ömer Koç Collection (TR), Walker Art Gallery (UK), Museum of London (UK), National Museums Scotland (UK), Aberdeen Art Gallery (UK), Reydan Weiss Collection (DE), Mack Collection (US), 21C Museum (US).