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An American Impressionist: The Art and Life of Alson Skinner Clark

by Deborah Epstein Solon, Ph.D.

lson Skinner Clark privileged. Musing on Alson’s early Skinner Clark. When he was (1876–1949) is hardly a famil- interest in art, his wife, Medora, nine or ten years old, it made A iar name, even to scholars of would later recollect in a 1956 itself manifest—and obnox- late nineteenth and early twentieth- interview with the Archives of ious as well—to the his century American art. The resuscita- American Art: church-going parents, for dur- tion of Clark’s career is part of the ing the long Sunday sermons ongoing scholarship in the field of I think the desire to draw was he surreptitiously recorded American Impressionism whose always extant with Alson the bonnets and bald pates in scope has broadened significantly within the last ten years to include artists heretofore overlooked. Clark was born in Chicago dur- ing the Centennial year, a decisive and turbulent period in American history when the country, and the national economy, was still in the throes of recovery from the Civil War. Nonetheless, art advanced to new levels during the decade of the 1870s. The period introducing “American Renaissance,” using the Centennial as a point of departure, was rife with social contradictions, but allowed the arts to flourish on a grander scale than ever before. Clark’s father, Alson Ellis, was from an impoverished background. After serving in the Civil War, he moved to Chicago and established a highly successful commodities busi- ness at the Chicago Board of Trade. Eventually, he was able to provide a comfortable lifestyle for his wife, Sarah, and their sons, Mancel, Edwin, and Alson (their daughter, Mary Emily died in 1871). Alson’s artistic talent was apparent from childhood, and his parents enrolled the young student in evening classes at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 1887. Clark’s Chicago childhood was

Ruins of San Juan Capistrano, c. 1919 Oil on board 31Љ ϫ 25Љ Private Collection, Courtesy of The Irvine Museum

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front of him in the only place advancing to the live model. In time. Alson, however, came to the available at the time—the 1896, following a disagreement rescue in his desire to study art frontispiece and blank rear with one of his teachers, and dis- with a New York master, and made pages of the family hymnals. pleased with what he considered it seem a necessary thing to do.” the slow and laborious process of In 1889 the Clark family drawing from casts, Clark quit the hen Chase opened his embarked on a two-year trip school. Determined to continue his Wown school, Clark, among around the world. This experience studies, Clark moved to New York many other students, followed him. gave young Alson his first introduc- to work under the tutelage of A dedicated and sympathetic tion to European art and perhaps William Merritt Chase instructor, Chase’s influence on was the catalyst to his future insa- (1849–1916) at the Art Students’ Clark was enduring throughout the tiable appetite for travel and paint- League of New York. young artist’s career. In fact, Clark’s ing. We know much about Clark Although Clark’s parents sup- Early Nude (1898) bears an through his diaries and letters—the ported his intention to become a inscription that Chase actually quotidian diary entries for the painter, his mother was concerned worked on the painting. The two young Alson in Europe focused on about her twenty-year-old son liv- summers Clark spent working en food, the weather and his studies, ing alone in New York; so she went plein air at Chase’s school in Shin- but also discussed the churches, with him. Adding to the unusual necock, Long Island presaged his museums, galleries, and opera per- arrangement, Alson’s childhood inclination towards Impressionist formances the family attended. friend Amelia Baker joined them. practices. Upon graduating from high The three shared a flat at Seventy- Clark left to study in Paris in school, Clark briefly enrolled as a Seventh Street and Columbus November 1898, but had reserva- full-time student at The School of Avenue. According to Sarah Clark: tions about leaving his family. He the Art Institute of Chicago where “For two years Mela [Amelia] and wrote in his diaries: “My dear the traditional academic program I have talked of spending a winter Mama, how I hate to leave her for (mostly dependent upon French in New York, in Bohemian fashion, so long. I do love her so.” Aspiring principles) included requisite draw- and have searched for a good rea- young American painters had sev- ing from casts and still-lifes before son for doing so, in vain till this eral options for instruction in Paris, but by far the most popular school was the Académie Julian. Nonethe- less, Clark rejected the Julian, find- ing the working conditions there “disgusting.” Instead, he enrolled in the newly opened, Academia Carmen, James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s (1834–1903) short-lived school. This decision was surpris- ing, as Whistler was the artistic antithesis of Chase. Known for his phlegmatic temperament, Whistler was ill-suited to the demands of an instructor. At first, Clark found the school “rotten.” The tuition was higher than at other schools, strict rules of decorum were enforced, and Whistler’s critiques were often more theatrical than instructional. On one rare occasion Whistler held a small soirée for his students at the studio. There, Clark acquired insight into Whistler’s working methods:

He showed us several of his starts and finished pictures. They were elegant and really Taking Paintings to the Salon, Paris, c. 1905 almost came up to the Old Collection of Jean Stern, The Estate of Alson Clark

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Masters. His things are so there isn’t much honour in being in simple that you look at them unless you get in squarely as only a moment and everything very few do.…” Nonetheless, inclu- CALIFORNIA ART CLUB comes out but nothing pushes sion continued to be his goal and itself forward so that you when his work, The Violinist NEWSLETTER notice it especially but see the (1901), was accepted later in 1901, whole thing.…He arranges his he was hardly nonchalant. Winter/Spring 2006 palette very queerly. He first Whistler’s early influence is seen in has black, then raw umber, Clark’s first successful entry in the light red, burnt sienna, Pruss- Paris Salon. The Violinist allows for Contents ian blue, burnt umber, some the exploration of muted hues of more black, vermilion, raw brown and green to explain a som- Cover An American sienna, yellow ochre and bre, brooding mood. The primary Impressionist: The Art white.…His studio is very sense is of a compositional arrange- dimly lighted and all the walls ment—the placement of the solitary and Life of Alson are of a warm, dark pink. individual and the exploration of Skinner Clark dark colour—as opposed to interest by Deborah Epstein Clark recognized the quixotic in personality or narrative. Solon, Ph.D. artist’s genius. He was a willing acolyte, and attended Whistler’s lark was repeatedly ill 10 Calvin Liang: His atelier intermittently until the Cand while living in New York Own Voice school’s demise in 1901. By this he went frequently to the doctor to by Elaine Adams time Whistler had a profound effect have his stomach “pumped.” In the on Clark, even the way he arranged spring of 1901, he suffered increas- 14 Letter from Iraq his own palette. ing physical infirmities. Told that In March of 1899, Clark entered he needed an appendectomy—a 15 CAC News Flash: his first work in the Paris Salon. In serious operation at the time—he Stars Shine Bright at a letter written the following month booked passage back to America Marston’s Restaurant to Amelia Baker, he described his on June 1 and scheduled the sur- experience: gery in Chicago. 16 CAC News Briefs Clark spent the summer of 1901 Wednesday Wilson and I went at the family summer home on 16 2006 CAAM to the Salon to see the stuff Comfort Island, one of the Thou- Workshops carried in and all the awful sand Islands in Alexandria Bay. In things that went in—I never the fall, he rented a barn in Water- 17 Donor Recognition saw such a lot of bad paint- town from Amelia’s parents and 18 Museum/Gallery ing. The wagons come up to converted it into a studio. Water- the entrance and take their town was a small, provincial city Exhibitions and wads of pictures in and there near Lake Ontario and the Cana- Lectures are crowds of people watch- dian border and the closest city to ing the stuff enter. I have little Comfort Island. His decision to 26 Membership News hope that [my picture] will stay in Watertown marked the 28 Bulletin Board pass the jury but one can beginning of his professional career and heralded a new chapter in his never tell as there is a great 29 New Members deal of “pull” in the Salon, personal life. He had gained experi- ence and sophistication through his and as I have not studied 30 In Memoriam under any Frenchman I may sojourn in Paris. Now, still strongly be thrown out. I don’t care influenced by both Chase and Advertisers what happens although of Whistler, he began to develop a personal vocabulary. course I would rather be in 26 American Legacy Fine than out. Exhibitions are, Clark was the only professional Arts, LLC after all, a farce. artist living in Watertown, and one of the local girls, Atta Medora 27 Source Tek When his painting was rejected, McMullin, agreed to pose as a model—with her mother as a chap- Clark pretended indifference: “It 28 Lifescapes doesn’t’ matter to me at all as I erone. Unexpectedly, love blos- haven’t a reputation to make and somed, despite the artist’s appre-

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artist and his siblings throughout their lives. Clark was thrilled about his first exhibition, which featured small paintings depicting the city of Paris: Approximately forty people attended, and a few pictures sold: Medora considered the event a “grand success.” From Watertown, the paintings travelled to Chicago for Clark’s first major exhibition, at the Anderson Galleries. Critical response was overwhelmingly posi- tive for the “Chicago boy,” with a consensus that the “young man cer- tainly has decided talent.” The Chicago Tribune declared, “Popu- lar opinion has decided that it is a very promising display for a young artist…. Mr. Clark has a style of his own. It is suggestive of Japanese reminiscences, is refined and pleas- antly frank…. The sentimental does not interfere with the boldness of using masses.” Alson and Medora, as she was known, were wed on September 20, 1902, and sailed on the S.S. Minnetonka for a Europe. On November 7, they moved into an apartment at 6, rue Victor-Consid- érant in Paris. Soon after settling in, Alson’s friend, artist Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874–1939), moved in with them until the rooms above their apartment became available. The Violinist, c. 1901 Among the constellation of Ameri- Oil on canvas 26Љ ϫ 22Љ can artists in France during the Collection of Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, early twentieth century, Clark’s San Marino, California friends included such notables as Gift of Alson Clark, Jr. Lawton S. Parker (1868–1954), Will Howe Foote (1874–1965), hensions. “In the evening I would assisting Clark as he organized his Henry S. Hubbell (1870–1949), have liked to have seen Medora, first solo exhibition in Watertown. Richard E. Miller (1875–1943), but stayed home and wrote. I have Always cognizant of his obliga- and Guy Rose (1867–1925). How- no more business in marrying than tions, on the eve of the exhibition, ever, he was especially close to the man in the moon for I am fickle Clark wrote: “Tomorrow begins Frieseke in the early years. Frieseke and can’t help myself. It is a mis- my career as an artist and with that painted from the Clarks’ apartment fortune and not a fault.” Yet, just a the knowledge that some of my balcony and occasionally used few days later, he wrote, “In the works may bring us our living.” In Medora as a model. The artists afternoon she posed. I could not fact, financially he was more fortu- worked assiduously during the win- work as I wanted to tell her that I nate than most artists. In the ter in order to prepare for the loved her but could not. We sat by 1890s, his father had purchased the spring Salon. As part of the prepa- the fire knowing each other’s Wadsworth-Howland Paint Com- ration, many analyzed each other’s minds.” By the end of January, pany (later renamed the Jewel Paint works. Some assisted each other Clark professed his love. Company), in the hope that his when it came time to deliver paint- From the beginning, Medora sons would enter the business. The ings to the Salon, often renting and proved to be a supportive partner, business provided income for the sharing wagons. They even

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exchanged formal clothing to wear dent, Claude Monet (1840–1926). “The more I reflect on the possibili- at openings: “Many painters didn’t However, an American colony was ties of Giverny as a place to go, the possess the required outfit, so there first established there in the 1880s, less I care for it. The petty jeal- would be a hurried return to some and by 1910 Americans were well ousies…the fights, the spying on base, a quick exchange, and the entrenched. The influx of tourists you by your neighbours all works frock coat and hat would make a and artists to this village caused a up to the least attractive place…to second trip to the Salon on a surge in prices from everything spend a season. Then the similarity smaller, but happy man.” from food to real estate. And, figu- in all of the work. I have kept out Clark meticulously documented ratively speaking, the American of it.” However, in Giverny, Clark his paintings on small note cards or community was highly incestuous. solidified his commitment to in notebooks, often with tiny photo- They lived, painted, played, and Impressionism. Like most Ameri- graphs. He wrote “Whistler” on argued all within full sight of each cans, Clark practiced a modified several of these cards, unabashedly other. Ultimately, Medora did not form of Impressionism, one that confirming his indebtedness to the find it a convivial atmosphere: allowed him to combine his aca- master. The Necklaces (Les Colliers) (1905) is perhaps his greatest hom- age to Whistler’s portraiture. Clothed in a flowing gown and placed in front of an elegant mantel- piece, Medora stands with her back to the viewer as she examines differ- ent necklaces. The title refers not to the model but rather to the objects she holds, removing any association with her individuality. Even as Clark matured—and aligned himself with Impressionist practices—Whistler’s influence still endured. The Clarks travelled extensively while maintaining their Parisian residence, visiting Normandy, Giverny, parts of Italy and Spain, the Netherlands, Dalmatia, and Canada, periodically returning to Comfort Island, Chicago and New York to sell his “American” paint- ings through the art dealer William Macbeth, who favoured American subject matter.

fter painting in Spain, AClark was eager to organize his Spanish paintings for an exhibition in America, and so the Clarks returned to Chicago in January 1910.A show of the Spanish paint- ings opened at the O’Brien Art Gal- leries in March of that year. Seven- teen of the thirty-eight canvases sold immediately. His New York dealer, Macbeth, agreed to exhibit works that were still available. The Clarks returned to Paris, but by June they left for a visit to the artist colony in Giverny, return- ing again for a short stay in Octo- The Necklaces (Les Colliers), 1905 ber. Giverny’s fame is associated Oil on canvas 38 3/4Љ ϫ 30 1/8Љ with its most distinguished resi- Collection of Earl and Elma Payton

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demic drawing skills with the chro- matic and stylistic freedom of Impressionist practices. Clark’s paintings were included at venues such as The Art Institute of Chicago, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Paris Salon, and the National Academy of Design. His continual thirst for new subjects proved financially suc- cessful: a steady stream of sales through his dealers in Chicago and New York provided a modest, but satisfactory income. In the spring of 1913, the Clarks decided rather sponta- neously to visit the Panama Canal Zone. Construction on the vast and costly canal was nearing com- pletion, and Clark was determined to somehow be involved in the epoch-making enterprise. Although they arrived in Panama without letters of introduction or accom- In the Lock, 1913 modations, both were eventually Oil on canvas 25Љ ϫ 31Љ secured. The supreme commander Collection of W. Donald Head/Old Grandview Ranch of the project gave Clark unprece- dented access to the labour trains and construction sites, where the artist worked furiously in the sti- fling heat to portray the excava- tions, the construction of the locks, and the ubiquitous railroad. Clark wrote to his mother:

This is such a busy place for me I never get time to write more than a postal. We get off on the 6:40 train in the morning, getting up at five- thirty or so and get back at noon, leave for lunch and go off again at one-thirty, getting in at seven and after dinner go to bed…. In the afternoon at present I go to the Culebra Cut where all the blasting has been going on and the slides, and I paint there. It is won- derful all over…. Alson Skinner Clark (1876–1949) Catfish Row (also known as Cabbage Row), c. 1917 By June, with a significant num- Oil on canvas 26Љ ϫ 32Љ ber of canvases completed, Clark Collection of Paul and Kathleen Bagley

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contacted John Trask, the director and history. He enjoyed the genteel the dignity of this artefact, even in of fine arts for the forthcoming Southern hospitality and undoubt- its ruinous state. In 1919, intending 1915 Panama-Pacific International edly would have stayed if not for a to remain in California until they Exposition. Although Clark’s impe- stunning turn of events. When the could return to Paris, the couple tus for painting the canal was United States entered World War I purchased a parcel of land with a purely personal, he quickly he rec- on April 16, 1917, they immedi- “shack” in Pasadena. As California ognized the value of these celebra- ately left Charleston and returned became more familiar, a new home tory images for the exhibition. to Chicago; at age forty-one, Clark and studio were constructed. Clark Trask agreed, granting the artist a enlisted in the Navy. refurbished a Dodge truck, which he room to exhibit eighteen paintings. Although hardly a candidate for equipped for plein air painting, and With such a distinction, Clark conscription, Clark believed that his travelled to Banning, Hemet, the joined the ranks of luminaries simi- fluency in French and familiarity High Sierra and Palm Springs with larly honoured with their own with the French countryside could artists Orrin White (1883–1969) rooms in San Francisco, among be useful. Originally assigned as a and John Frost (1890–1937). them Frank Duveneck (1848–1919), translator, he was subsequently William Merritt Chase, Childe Has- reclassified as a military photogra- wo significant events sam (1859–1935), Edmund Tarbel pher in May 1918. He was assigned Tmarked Clark’s early years in Cal- (1862–1938), John Twachtman to take aerial surveillance photo- ifornia: a reunion with a friend from (1853–1902), James Abbott graphs while dangling precariously France, Guy Rose, and the birth of McNeill Whistler, and John Singer over the side of an open plane, an his son. Rose returned to his native Sargent (1856–1925). F2A Flying Boat. The experience California to teach at the newly The Clarks were vacationing in left him deaf in one ear—a condi- formed Stickney School of the Fine France during the summer of 1914 tion deemed reversible—and Clark Arts in Pasadena. He became direc- when World War I erupted. Based was advised to live in a warm cli- tor in 1918 and asked Clark to join on correspondence in August 1914 mate when he returned to America. the faculty. When Rose suffered a from Clark to his mother, they were Opting to go west—but knowing debilitating stroke in 1921, Clark completely stunned and underesti- nothing about California—the assumed the directorship. That same mated the situation’s gravity. “Per- Clarks reluctantly left for Los year, Clark’s son, Alson Jr., was haps by the time you get this,” he Angeles, arriving in February 1919. born. The euphoria of his new baby wrote, “all will have blown over As they travelled across the coun- was tempered by the rigors of caring and there will not be anything to try, Clark announced to Medora for a newborn. Accustomed to free- worry about.” Temporarily that he would no longer paint. dom and quiet—and clearly slightly stranded—and facing the conun- Although Clark’s diaries do not overwhelmed—Clark bemoaned drum of getting themselves and the refer to this rather radical pro- that “my painting days are over, I Panama paintings back to Amer- nouncement, fresh from the horrors fear.” Like all new parents, the ica—they eventually secured passage of war, he may have viewed his Clarks quickly learned to adjust to a on a ship, rolled the massive can- painting career as insipid. However, new schedule, and their son’s arrival vases, and carried them as luggage. once in California, his hearing encouraged the artist to seek more steadily improved; he regained his structure and stability in his life. orced to remain in spirits and resumed painting. Another milestone that year was FAmerica, the Clarks accepted an Southern California offered Clark Clark’s first solo exhibition in invitation from Charles and Edith new and exciting possibilities for his southern California. Earl Stendahl, Bittinger, friends from the early art through the diversity of land- the most powerful art dealer in Los days in Paris, to visit them in New scapes, romantic Spanish Colonial Angeles during the 1920s hosted England during the winter of 1916. missions, and the proximity to the exhibition, which included both Clark was invigorated by the chilly exotic Mexico. The Mission San East and West Coast scenes. Con- New England climate, painting en Gabriel and Mission San Juan currently, Clark’s works were on plein air in snowshoes. In January Capistrano became familiar haunts exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery 1917, they agreed to join another for the Clarks, with Alson delight- in Washington, D.C., and the Art couple on a “short trip” to ing in the decaying architecture Institute of Chicago. By the fall of Charleston. Clark had spent very weathered by time and the unusual 1922, the couple decided to make little time in the South, and was Western flora. Ruins of San Juan Pasadena their permanent home, overcome by Charleston’s charm Capistrano (c. 1919) underscores closing up their Paris studio and

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unfurl their tents and decide to remain here forever and a day. It seems to be actually true—therefore—what we have seen and heard so often stated in print and out—that Southern California is the Mecca of painters. For many years Alson Clark has been a pilgrim and a wayfarer…. But he hadn’t found Mecca. Four years ago he came to South- ern California and remained.

By the early 1930s, Clark was accepting decorative commissions for private homes, designing wallpaper and screens, and paint- ing murals for dining rooms and libraries. Although his interests were always diverse, he was The Artist’s Cottage (Pasadena), c. 1925 undoubtedly delighted to find work Oil on canvas 36Љ ϫ 46Љ during the depths of the Depres- Collection of Gregory A. Young sion. However, against the bleak economic backdrop, Clark took a shipping its contents to California. fornia’s statehood. Shortly there- bold step in 1933: he decided to During the next several years after he painted a series of murals drive across the country with his Clark took frequent trips through- at the Pasadena First Trust and family, allowing more than a year out California, the Southwest, and Savings Bank (now Bank of the to meander and paint. In 1935 the especially to Mexico, in particular West), and eight large paintings for couple took their final journey to Cuernavaca and Taxco where the a private men’s club in Los Ange- Europe. Even after such a long hia- architecture, landscape, and indige- les. Between projects, Clark contin- tus, Clark still saw Paris through nous population inspired another ued to paint en plein air in the late the same inquisitive eyes of his aspect of his art. In 1925 Clark 1920s, mounting successful exhibi- youth, painting city scenes such as began a rather unlikely phase of tions with private dealers and Paris, Rooftops (1936) from their his career as a mural painter when museums throughout the country. hotel window. he was commissioned to paint the Clark’s willingness to immerse enormous curtain (measuring himself in international cultures was lark’s popularity twenty by thirty-two feet) for the a consistent element throughout his Cremained consistent throughout newly constructed Pasadena Play- diverse career. With this understand- the 1930s. While the battle raged house. On the heels of its success, ing, his emerging characterization as between modern and traditional he was approached by J. Harvey a “California artist,” starting in the artists, Clark remained unaffected McCarthy, a native Californian mid-1920s, seems incongruous. by the debate. He was a devotee of and wealthy entrepreneur who was While Clark spent the latter portion Impressionism throughout his life, financing the Carthay Circle The- of his career in California, over half patently rejecting modernism with ater in Los Angles, to paint a series of his life was spent elsewhere. Begin- no misgivings. Two generations of of murals chronicling the history of ning in 1923, Antony Anderson, critic collectors had avidly acquired his California. Clark settled on seven for the Los Angeles Times, began to works; his paintings continued to ambitious scenes, including The shape Clark’s transformation: be included in museum and gallery Arrival of the Oregon at San Fran- exhibitions; and, in 1940, the Los cisco (c. 1925–26), documenting All globe-trotting artists land Angeles County Museum awarded the arrival of the vessel that at some time in Southern Cal- him a self-curated retrospective of brought first official news of Cali- ifornia, and not a few of them twenty paintings, including works

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from Panama, Chicago, Cuer- Notes: navaca, France, New England, The author Deborah Epstein Solon, An American Impressionist: The Taxco, and California. Ph.D., is an independent curator and Art and Life of Alson Skinner When the United States entered an instructor at Irvine Valley Col- Clark was exhibited in 2005 at World War II, Clark contributed to lege. Her publications include, the Gibbes Museum, Charleston, the war effort by organizing a group Colonies of American Impression- South Carolina and at the Pasadena of craftsmen who produced instru- ism: Old Lyme, Cos Cob, Shin- Museum of California Art. ments for the military. By 1945, necock, and Laguna Beach (1999), A 150-page full colour catalogue Clark’s health was in decline. Diag- and In and Out of California: Trav- ($35 soft-bound/$45 hard-bound) nosed with a heart condition, he was els of American Impressionists with essays by Deborah Epstein cautioned not to drive. Since he (2002). She has just co-authored a Solon, Ph.D., and an introduction could no longer travel, he substi- publication with Dr. William H. by Dr. William Gerdts, Professor tuted his love of painting en plein air Gerdts on the artist Colin Campbell Emeritus, The Graduate Center of for figure painting in the studio. In Cooper (1856–1937). That cata- the City University of New York, is 1948, after a severe bout of pneu- logue accompanies a major exhibi- available through both museums. monia and four months of recupera- tion that will open in 2006. tion, he was allowed to resume work in his studio in March 1949. Medora described the day he began to paint once again as “joyous,” as the artist returned to his lifelong pas- sion. The joy was short-lived: Clark suffered a paralyzing stroke the fol- lowing morning and passed away within a week. In her inimitable fashion, Medora remembered, “my son and I could only rejoice that he had in his lifetime been denied only one small week of the use of that wonderful right arm.” Her personal grief was mitigated by knowing that, above all, Clark’s inability to paint would have been a tragedy far greater than death. News of Clark’s death initiated an outpouring of sympathy. Although serious about his work, Clark’s joie de vivre made him a favourite among colleagues and friends. He was characterized as “an artist sensitive to beauty,” an apt description for one who could extract beauty from the crumbling walls of ruins or marvel at the newest technological construction feats; an artist who was equally at ease painting California’s desert flora or the urban landscapes of Chicago and Paris. Rooftops, Paris, 1936 Oil on canvas 22Љ ϫ 18 1/2Љ Collection of the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio Gift of Mrs. Alson S. Clark

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