Born in Helston, Cornwall in 1927, Daphne McClure was a prominent painter and central member of the Newlyn Society of Artists.
After studying at Hornsey College of Art and Central School of Art, Daphne worked at the Royal Opera House from 1952 to 1956, designing costumes for productions such as Midsummer Marriage with Barbara Hepworth and Stravinsky's Firebird featuring Margot Fonteyn. Returning to Cornwall, she devoted herself to painting in her studio. In 1995, the Tate Gallery in St Ives commissioned her for its inaugural exhibition, and in 2005, she had an artist residency at the Josef Albers Foundation in Connecticut, USA. In 2020, a book about Daphne McClure was published, coinciding with a successful solo exhibition of her work at Cornwall Contemporary.
