Claire Tomalin
Claire Tomalin
by Rebecca Driffield
© Rebecca Driffield
Rebecca Driffield studied at Swinburne College of Art and Melbourne State College, Melbourne. Driffield’s work has been seen in group and solo exhibitions in Europe and the USA as well as being selected as one of the artists in the BBC Star Portraits series in 2003. She was previously selected for the BP Portrait Award in 1999, winning second prize.
The portrait is of author Claire Tomalin. Driffield had long admired Tomalin’s writing and her biography of Charles Dickens prompted the artist to contact Tomalin to ask if she would sit for a portrait. She agreed, and the initial studies were made in her London house, surrounded by the books in her study.