artist: Clifford ellis

Clifford Ellis was born in Bognor Regis , West Sussex in 1907. He studied at St Martin's School of Art and then at the Regents Street Polytechnic before training to become a teacher and joined the staff at the Poly. In 1931 he married Rosemary Collinson who he had met at Regent Street and after their marriage they worked on many artistic projects together. Perhaps the most well known are the 'New Naturalist' series book jackets and poster for London transport and major UK companies. Little is known of his abstract work that he undertook at Corsham Court during and after the war but to read more abut this aspect of Cliffords work read our blog page on the subject via this link.

In 1936, Clifford Ellis took up a position at Bath Tech college and was appointed Head of the Art school two years later. During the war the Bath Academy of Art moved to Corsham Court at Lord Methuen's invitation, where many of the great artists from the Modern British period taught.