Alison S Clark (1876-1948)
Born: Chicago, Illinois 1876 Died: Pasadena, California 1949
A native of Chicago, Clark developed an interest in art during a two-year trip around the world at the age of sixteen. He enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1893 . In 1895 he went to New York City and studied at Art Students League as a pupil of William Merritt Chase. In 1896 he enrolled in the Chase School of Art continuing his studies with William Merritt Chase and Frank Duveneck for the next three years. In 1889 he returned to Europe making Paris his headquarters where he studied with Lucien J. Simon, Charles Cottet, Alphonse Mucha and Luc-Olivier Merson. He became a member of the famous “Class of Fourteen” organized and taught by Whistler. Clark’s work was shown in 1900 at the Paris Salon for the first time. In 1902 Clark returned to Chicago and held an exhibition of his French paintings at the Anderson Gallery. From 1902 thru 1906 he traveled and painted throughout France and Italy.
Clark continued traveling from 1906 to 1918 in both the North America and Europe. He painted in Quebec, Spain, New Orleans, Prague, Panama, Charleston, South Carolina, with brief periods spent in Chicago, New York or Paris. After World War One he moved to California, building a studio-home in Pasadena in 1920. In 1921 Clark began teaching at Stickney Memorial School with his friend Guy Rose. He held his first one-man show at Stendahl Galleries the same year. He continued to travel and paint throughout California and Mexico for rest of his career.
Clark received many honors during his career, including Bronze Medals at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, Pan-American Exposition, San Francisco,1915; the Cahn Prize, Chicago Art Institute, 1906; Grand Prize, Southwestern Museum, Los Angeles, 1923; Huntington Prize, Los Angeles Museum, 1925 and the Mrs. McBride Prize, Pasadena Art Institute, 1933.
He was known and won many honors for his murals at the First Trust and Savings Bank, the University Club, Huntington Hospital and the Green Hotel. In addition he painted the curtains for the Pasadena Playhouse in 1925 and painted murals at the Cathay Circle Theatre in Los Angeles during 1926, along with many others in public buildings and several private commissions. Clark was best known for his paintings, “The Coffee House”, “The Bridge Builders” and “The Song of the Nightingale”.
His work was exhibited in the Albert and Victoria Museum, London, England; California State Library, San Diego Fine Arts Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago and the Addison Gallery of Fine Art , Andover, Massachusetts. He was a member of Allied Artists of America, Chicago Society of Artists and the Pasadena Society of Artists.
[Information excerpted from “Early Artists in Laguna Beach, The Impressionists” Laguna Beach Art Museum, 1986 and from local newspapers.] |
