Having met and befriended the artist William Scott during the second world war, Cliffe quickly enrolled at Bath Academy of Art in 1946 when Scott started teaching there. He was...
Having met and befriended the artist William Scott during the second world war, Cliffe quickly enrolled at Bath Academy of Art in 1946 when Scott started teaching there. He was later invited to join the staff and became an influential teacher alongside Peter Lanyon, Terry Frost, Bryan Wynter and Adrian Heath. Scott's influence is apparent in his earlier works, but by the 1950s, Cliffe had developed a shared interest in sculptural form, alongside Bryan Wynter, where dark lines of force frame bold colour.