Though the figures in Claudette Johnson’s paintings and drawings often inhabit uncomfortable, awkward and difficult poses, the larger-than-life scale gouache and pastel drawing, Reclining Figure, 2017, rests. Though even at apparent ease, her facial expression is etched with the implication of difficulty or hardship; rest hard won. The scale of the image vies with the figures pose, a demand for the private, quiet moment of solace to be recognised, acknowledged, allowed space in the public realm. This kind of tension is always ripe in Johnson’s works, portraits based on but not direct representations of Black sitters, predominantly women, that she has created since the 1980s.

Johnson was part of what was originally called Wolverhampton Young Black Artists, a loose knit group that became the BLK Art Group. Johnson joined Keith Piper, Marlene Smith, Donald Rodney, Dominic Dawes, and Wenda Leslie. Later, alongside Lubaina Himid and Sonia Boyce, they became part of the influential British Black Arts Movement. Johnson is currently shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2025, for her exhibition Presence, held at The Courtauld Gallery. Last week, she unveiled her mural at Brixton Underground Station, a commission for Art on the Underground. The bold triptych is titled Three Women, and is Johnson’s first public artwork. It is inspire by a drawing Johnson made in the mid 1980s, and references Picasso’s Les Demoiselles D’Avignon.

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