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Clark (Anthony M.) papers
2023.M.59
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Contributing Institution: Special Collections
Title: Anthony M. Clark papers
Creator: Clark, Anthony M.
Identifier/Call Number: 2023.M.59
Physical Description: 10.52 Linear Feet(19 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1929-1976
Date (bulk): bulk 1949-1976
Abstract: Collection of notebooks and diaries, artworks, and printed material by or belonging to the late art historian and museum professional
Anthony M. Clark.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language of Material: Collection material is in English with some Italian.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Estate of Anthony Morris Clark, 2023.
This collection is arranged in 3 series:
Series I. Notebooks and diaries, 1941-1976; Series II. Artworks, 1929-1972; Series III. Printed material, 1939-1971.
Anthony M. Clark (1923-1976) was an art historian, artist, collector, and museum professional. His chief interest was eighteenth-century
Rome.
Clark was born October 12, 1923, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Harvard University in 1945 with a degree
in fine arts. From 1945 to 1949, he worked as a painter in New York City.
In 1950, Clark lectured on contemporary New York painting as part of a Harvard-run seminar in Salzburg, Austria. He then traveled
throughout Europe, eventually working with the Byzantine Institute in Istanbul, excavating, cleaning, and restoring frescoes
of Kariye Mosque (also known as Chora Church) and the inlaid floor of Zeyrek Mosque (the Monastery of the Pantokrator) in
1954.
In 1955, Clark became the first secretary to the museum of the Rhode Island School of Design under Director John Maxon. He
served there in this capacity and as director of publications until 1959. From 1959 to 1961, Clark was one of the first two
David E. Finley Fellows at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. He spent the fellowship in Rome, Italy.
Clark was appointed curator of paintings and sculpture at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 1961 and became director in
1963. In 1973, he became curator of European painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art under Director Thomas Hoving. He resigned
from the museum in protest in 1975 citing issues with museum administration. His resignation followed that of curator John
Walsh, Jr.
From 1975 to 1976, Clark was a professor at both New York University's Institute of Fine Arts and Williams College in Williamstown,
Massachusetts. At the time of his death on November 22, 1976, he was a resident at the American Academy in Rome (AAR), working
on a survey of Roman baroque painting supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Clark amassed a significant collection of eighteenth-century Roman paintings, as well as drawings, pottery, coins, and objects.
A portion of his eighteenth-century paintings collection was sold to support the posthumous publication of his books-in-progress
(including
Pompeo Batoni: A Complete Catalogue of His Paintings [1985]) and to help establish a fellowship in Renaissance and early modern studies (now known as the AAR's Anthony M. Clark
Rome Prize).
Clark's will dictated that certain works be donated to a suitable museum and so its executors bequeathed to the Philadelphia
Museum of Art 378 old master drawings, 204 prints, 114 coins, medals, and plaquettes, 24 sculptures, and 13 miscellaneous
objects from his estate, all indicative of his interest in Roman life.
Sources consulted:
Crockett, Emily and Lee Sorensen. "Clark, Anthony M." Dictionary of Art Historians. https://arthistorians.info/clarka.
"From the Archives: Anthony M. Clark." American Academy in Rome, October 31, 2023. https://www.aarome.org/news/features/archives-anthony-m-clark.
Russell, John. "Anthony Clark, 52, Museum Director, Head of Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Chairman of Met's European Paintings
Department Dies."
The New York Times, November 24, 1976.
"A Scholar Collects: Selections from the Anthony Morris Clark Bequest." Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1981.
John Walsh, Director Emeritus of the J. Paul Getty Museum, became the executor of Anthony M. Clark's estate after his passing
in 1976. His papers were in Walsh's possession until they were given to the repository by Clark's estate in 2023.
Anthony M. Clark papers, 1929-1976, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2023.M.59.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/archives2023m59
Sarah Lerner processed the collection and wrote the finding aid in 2024.
Additional research materials by or belonging to Anthony M. Clark can be found in:
Anthony M. Clark Archive, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library, Washington, D.C.
The collection consists of research photographs and prints collected by Clark, as well as his notebooks with entries pertaining
to European artists, personages, churches, palaces, antiquities, collections, dealers, and iconography.
Scope and Content of Collection
Collection of notebooks and diaries, artworks, and printed material by or belonging to the late art historian and museum professional
Anthony M. Clark.
Included are appointment books, diary entries, sketchbooks, and workbooks documenting Clark's work at the Rhode Island School
of Design Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Materials also concern the social
and intellectual history of scholars living and working in Rome, Italy, in the 1950s and 1960s. A portion of Clark's art throughout
his sketchbooks and other bound volumes is homoerotic in nature.
Clark's personal and academic interests in eighteenth-century Rome and the ancient Latin city Alba Longa are documented throughout
the collection as are his poetry and prose.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Address books
Appointment books
Diaries
Drawings (visual works)
Paintings
Photographs, Original
Poetry
Sketchbooks
Art historians -- United States
Art museum curators -- United States
Art, Roman -- Study and teaching
Gay erotic art
Art historians -- Archives
Alba Longa (Extinct city)
Rome (Italy) -- Description and travel
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) -- Employees
Minneapolis Institute of Arts -- Employees
Rhode Island School of Design. Museum of Art -- Employees