Between 1976 and 1977, Brian Clarke created The Tribute Paintings, a series dedicated to influential architects and artists he admired, such as Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Kazimir Malevich.

The four Tribute to Mies van der Rohe works in the series reflect Clarke’s interest in landscape painting, constructivist aesthetics and modernist architecture. These themes emerged prominently in his work during the 1970s and are also evident in the Constructivist Landcsapes seires of 1976, as well as in the edition Derbyshire with Standing Stone and Mies van der Rohe Building of 1977.

In his Tribute to Kazimir Malevich, Clarke reversed the canvas and painted on its back, incorporating the wooden stretcher bars into the composition.

Tribute to Le Corbusier incorporates a burnt canvas and a quotation from Le Corbusier’s poem The Right Angle at the lower edge of the work.