Clifford Last

Bio

Clifford Last (b.1918-1991) was a sculptor known for his deftly crafted forms. Last was born in Hampshire, England and left school at sixteen, instead undertaking an apprenticeship at his father’s shop-fitting workshop where he learned basic woodworking skills. While studying sculpture in London, Last would visit exhibitions of Modern sculpture and had a particular affinity for works by Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. Last arrived in Melbourne in 1947 and enrolled for further study at the Royal Melbourne Technical College. His first solo exhibition in 1948 was held at Georges Gallery in Collins Street where he showed small-scale wood and stone carvings inspired by Hepworth and Moore. Last would go on to receive wide acclaim for his sculptures, in 1989 the National Gallery of Victoria staged a sprawling retrospective of his work. In the television series Housewife, 49 (2006) which is based on the diary entries of Last’s mother Nella Last, it is suggested throughout that Last was homosexual.

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