Biografie von Eliot Candee CLARK (1883-1980)

Birth place: New York, NY

Death place: Charlottesville, VA

Addresses: NYC/Charlottesville, VA (1947)

Profession: Painter, writer, lecturer, educ

Studied: ASL, with J. Twachtman; W. Clark; and in Europe, 1904-06.

Exhibited: NYWC, 1892 (at age 9); Boston AC, 1899; NAD, 1899-1950 (prizes, 1912, 1922); SAA; AWCS; AIC; St Louis Art Mus.;Doll & Richards Gal., Boston (1st solo) c.1907; Corcoran Gal, 1910, 1914, 1919; Katz Gal., NYC, 1912 (solo);Carnegie Inst; PAFA, 1915-24; Albright Art Gal.; CAM; RISD; VMFA; NAC; SC; Macdowell Club, NYC (with Leon Kroll); Milwaukee AI, 1919; Mohr Gal., NYC, 1920 (with Six American Painters group); Telfair Acad., Savannah, GA, 1923, 1924, 1974; Allied Artists Am. (Burton Prize); Bayley Mus., Univ. VA, 1975 (retrospective); Campanile Gal., Chicago, 1980s; Love Gal. Chicago, 1980; Dixon Gal., Memphis, 1980

Member: NA, 1944 (pres., 1956-59); AWCS (pres., 1920-23); Allied Artists Am. (pres., 1945-53); NSS (hon. member); NAC (life member); CAFA

Work: MMA; NAD; NAC; Baltimore Mus. Art; Dayton Mus Art; Dayton AI; Muncie AA; Witte Mem. Mus.; Ft. Worth AA; Wichita Falls Women's Club; Ft. Worth Women's Club; San Antonio Women's Club; San Antonio Art Mus.

Comments: Son of landscape painter Walter Clark whom he accompanied on painting trips to Chadds Ford, Gloucester, and Ogunquit. While he began as a tonalist landscape painter, he turned toward Impressionism, working in oils, watercolors, pastels. As a teenager, he and his father accompanied Twachtman, J.F. Murphy, and Potthast on painting excursions. In 1904, he spent a month in Giverny, then studied Barbizon works at the Louvre in Paris. He then traveled to London and Belgium, and made a walking tour of the Swiss, German, and Italian Alps. He continued to Venice, Ferrara, Bologna, Florence, Capri, and Naples; thence to Spain, studying at the Prado and in Toledo. In 1912, he was in the Grand Canyon, New Mexico, the Painted Desert, and northern Arizona; in 1913 he was painting in Yosemite. From 1922-32, he lived in Kent, CT; then moved to Albemarle Cnty, VA, where he painted the Blue Ridge country. Steeped in eastern philosophy, he made a trip to Tibet in 1937-38 which caused him to reflect mysticism and dreams in his paintings. In 1939 he re-established his studio in NYC until he moved back to Albemarle Cnty, VA, in 1959. Teaching: instructor, Roerich Mus., Grand Central Art Sch. (1931-32), NAC (1943-); served on Univ. Virginia Bd. Governors; instructor of painting, ASL, NYC, Univ. Virginia & Savanah Art Club; staff lecturer arts of India, Asia Inst & history of art, Roerich Mus. Contributor: art critic for The Studio," London; articles for "Art in America," "Scribner's," "International Studio," "Arts and Decoration". Author: Alexander Wyant, 1916; John Twachtman, 1924; J. Francis Murphy, 1926; Theodore Robinson, History of the National Academy of Design:1825-1951, 1954.

Sources: WW73; WW47; P&H Samuels, 97; Richard Love, Walter & Eliot Clark, exh. cat., Chicago,1980; The Boston AC.