"Bringing the Museum to You"

The Cyber Art Show continues our study of American landscape painters in the Public Domain with the second of two 12-piece Exhibitions of works by Alson Skinner Clark (1876-1949).

 

Clark was born to an affluent family in Chicago, Illinois. He demonstrated an aptitude for painting from an early age, enrolling at the Art Institute of Chicago at the age of 11 to begin his formal art education. After graduating high school, he attended the Institute again for six months. In 1896 Clark enrolled at the Art Students League in New York, where he studied under the prominent artist William Merritt Chase. He also attended Chase’s summer school of plein-air painting at Shinnecock.

 

During a family trip to Europe, Alson became exposed to European painting styles. In 1898 he enrolled for classes at the Academie Carmen in Paris, under the tutelage of director James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Whistler’s Impressionism would influence Clark throughout his life.

 

After returning to America in 1901, Clark married one of his art models. He and his wife lived in Paris from 1902-1914, where Clark painted alongside his friends Lawton Parker, Guy Rose and Frederick Frieseke. In Europe, the Clarks were supported by sales of his artworks in New York and Chicago Galleries. He also displayed his works in exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Academy of Design, Pennsylvania Academy, and the Paris Salon.

 

In 1913 the Clarks traveled to Panama where Clark painted the new Canal that was completing construction. Contacted by John Trask, Director of the Fine Arts section of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, Clark displayed 18 of his Panama Canal paintings, earning him a Bronze Medal in 1915.

 

In 1919 the Clarks moved to Pasadena, California, where the painter renewed his friendship with fellow artist Guy Rose. When Rose suffered a stroke in 1921, Clark became Director of Rose's Stickney Memorial School of Art. Later, he taught fine art at Occidental College.

 

Clark enjoyed memberships in the Pasadena Society of Artists and the California Art Club. In 1937, Clark’s works were displayed in the Tonal Impressionism exhibition in the Los Angeles Art Association Gallery at the Los Angeles Public Library, curated by Harry Muir Kurtzworth.

 

- Image of the Day -

 

  "The Arrival of the 'Oregon' at San Francisco (c. 1925-1926)"

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Twelve-Piece Exhibition by

 

    Alson Skinner Clark (1876-1949)    

       Feature Artist Bio

To view the previous Gallery, click here.