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Alson Clark Collection of Photographs: Finding
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photCL 361
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Title: Alson Clark Collection of Photographs
Dates (inclusive): approximately 1889-1939, 1962
Bulk dates: 1889-1939
Collection Number: photCL 361
Creator:
Clark, Alson Skinner, 1876-1949
Extent:
1289 photographs in 8 boxes and 1 flat file: chiefly gelatin silver prints; prints various sizes 35 x 27 cm and 28 x 36 and
smaller, chiefly 18 x 28 and smaller, and one ticket book.
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Photo Archives
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains 1289 photographs, chiefly gelatin silver prints, reflecting the professional life and travels of
American impressionist painter Alson Skinner Clark, some taken by Alson Clark and some by commercial and unidentified photographers,
from approximately 1889-1939. The collection chiefly comprises portraits of Alson and his wife, Atta Medora Clark; photographs
depicting their studio home in the Arroyo Seco area of Pasadena, California; examples of Clark's work; and scenes reflecting
Alson Clark's travels, both with and without Medora Clark, throughout the Southwestern United States and to Mexico, Europe,
and Canada. The collection also includes photographs depicting India, China, and Korea in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
and photograph albums depicting the aftermath of World War I in Europe and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of
1915 in San Diego.
Language: English.
The collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information,
please visit the Huntington's website:
www.huntington.org.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item], Alson Clark Collection of Photographs, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Gift of Alson Clark, Jr., April 19, 1992.
Alson Skinner Clark (1876-1949) was an American Impressionist painter known for his landscape paintings; his murals, including
at the Carthay Circle Theater in Los Angeles and the First Trust and Savings Bank in Pasadena; and the fire curtain of the
Pasadena Playhouse, which featured a Spanish galleon in full sail.
Clark was born in Chicago, Illinois, and studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1880s and in New York in the 1890s;
there, as a student of William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), he began painting
en plein air. Clark's studies were enhanced by his family's travels around the world from 1889-1891, and in 1898, he moved to Paris, where
he studied with James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903); in 1901, Clark's painting, The Violinist, was accepted by the Salon
des Beaux Arts. That year, Clark returned to the United States for surgery and lived with his parents, Alson Ellis Clark and
Sarah Clark, on Comfort Island, one of the Thousand Islands in Alexandria Bay, New York; he then settled in Watertown, New
York, married one of his former models, Atta Medora McMullin (1887-1973), and began exhibiting his work, with her assistance.
After marrying in 1902, Alson and Medora Clark moved to Paris and traveled to destinations including Normandy and Giverny
in France; parts of Italy and Spain; the Netherlands; Dalmatia; Canada; and Comfort Island, New York City, and Chicago, exhibiting
and selling paintings. In 1913, the Clarks visited the Panama Canal Zone, where Clark produced a series of paintings depicting
the construction of the Panama Canal, works that were subsequently honored with their own room in the 1915 Panama-Pacific
International Exposition in San Diego, California. When World War I broke out in 1914, the Clarks returned to the United States,
living in New England, South Carolina, and Chicago before Clark, at age 41, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1917, serving as
a translator and military photographer.
In 1919, the Clarks moved to Southern California, where they lived in a home studio on the east bank of the Arroyo Seco in
Pasadena designed by Reginald Johnson; they also had a son, Alson Clark, Junior (1921-1993). Clark taught at Occidental College
in Los Angeles and at the Stickney School of the Fine Arts in Pasadena, where he became director. The Clarks also continued
their travels, including to various locations in the American Southwest and to Mexico, especially Cuernavaca and Taxco, with
Clark painting
plein air and exploring his interests in architecture; landscape; color; ruins, including Mission San Juan Capistrano; and indigenous
populations. Clark's work was popular, and he gained a variety of commissions, including for the murals at the Carthay Theater
and at the Pasadena First Trust and Savings Bank (now Bank of the West) chronicling California history, the latter featuring
panels depicting the Southern California industries of oil drilling, citrus farming, movies, and shipping. With Dwight Gibbs,
Clark helped to design the skyline and the interior of the Pasadena Playhouse, and in the 1930s, he also worked on decorative
commissions for private homes. Following a stroke in 1945, Clark devoted himself to figure painting in his studio, an activity
he continued until his death in 1949 in Pasadena.
This collection contains 1289 photographs, chiefly gelatin silver prints, reflecting the professional life and travels of
American impressionist painter Alson Skinner Clark, some taken by Alson Clark and some by commercial and unidentified photographers,
from approximately 1889-1939. The collection chiefly comprises portraits of Alson and his wife Atta Medora Clark, many showing
Clark painting
en plein air; photographs depicting their studio home in the Arroyo Seco area of Pasadena, California; views of Clark's work, including
murals at the Pasadena Playhouse, the Polytechnic Elementary School, and the First Trust and Savings Bank in Pasadena; and
images of Alson Clark's travels, both with and without Medora Clark, to Thousand Islands, New York; throughout the Southwestern
United States; Mexico; and, to a lesser extent, in Europe and Canada. The collection also includes photograph albums depicting
the aftermath of World War I in Europe and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 in San Diego, and photographs
depicting various locations in India, China, and Korea in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; many of these appear to
be reproductions and are curling.
The photographs of the Southwestern United States comprise chiefly landscape views of California locations including La Jolla
and the desert environs of Palm Springs, Panamint City, and the Owens Valley, and also depict Western scenes and locations
including Mother Lode towns in California and Nevada; other Southwest states; men on horses; rodeos; and Indians, including
several in various poses. Depictions of Mexico comprise chiefly street and market scenes in Taxco, Mexico City, Mazatlán,
Punta Banda, and other locations, many showing indigenous people; churches and other buildings, including ruins; dwellings;
and landscape views. Several of the photographs show people in camping parties, some depicting painters, including Clark,
at work. Photographs of Canada depict chiefly street scenes and dwellings in the city and province of Québec and activities
of the timber industry, including ships and timber hauling operations. Photographs of Europe depict chiefly village street
and market scenes in Brittany, France and, to a lesser extent, in Dalmatia, Croatia; the collection also includes a photograph
album depicting chiefly France and also Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands in the aftermath of World War I.
This collection is directly related to the Alson Skinner Clark papers, 1870-1971, bulk 1890-1940, held by the Archives of
American Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., a portion of which was also donated by Alson Clark, Jr.
Photographs are grouped according to general topic and within topics in chronological order. The collection is arranged in
the following 4 series:
- Series I. Alson Clark and Family, Studio, and Projects
- Subseries A. Portraits and family travels
- Subseries B. Studio home
- Subseries C. Various projects
- Series II. California and Southwest. Views
- Subseries A. California
- Subseries B. Southwest
- Series III. Mexico. Views
- Series IV. Asia, Europe, and Canada. Views
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Clark, Alson Skinner, 1876-1949.
Clark, Alson Skinner, 1876-1949 -- Homes and haunts -- Photographs.
Clark, Atta Medora McMullin, 1887-1973 -- Photographs.
Pasadena Playhouse -- Photographs.
Panama-California Exposition -- (1915 : San Diego, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Artists' models -- Photographs.
Artists' studios -- California -- Pasadena -- Photographs.
Automobile travel -- Southwest, New -- Photographs.
Bathing beaches -- California -- Photographs.
Children -- Mexico -- Photographs.
Deserts -- California -- Photographs.
Deserts -- Southwest, New -- Photographs.
Dwellings -- California -- Pasadena -- Photographs.
Horsemanship -- Southwest, New -- Photographs.
Indians of Mexico -- Photographs.
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- Photographs.
Landscapes -- California -- Photographs.
Landscapes -- Southwest, New -- Photographs.
Markets -- Mexico -- Photographs.
Mountains -- California -- Photographs.
Mountains -- Southwest, New -- Photographs.
Mural painting and decoration -- California -- Photographs.
Plein air painting -- Photographs.
Schools -- California -- Pasadena -- Photographs.
Street vendors -- Mexico -- Photographs.
Ships in art -- Photographs.
Villages -- Mexico -- Photographs.
World War, 1914-1918 -- Europe -- Photographs.
Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Baja California (Mexico: State) -- Photographs.
Beijing (China) -- Photographs.
Brittany (France) -- Photographs.
Canada -- Photographs.
Carson City (Nev.) -- Photographs.
China -- Photographs.
Dalmatia (Croatia) -- Photographs.
France -- Photographs.
India -- Photographs.
La Jolla (San Diego, Calif.)-- Photographs.
Mazatlán (Sinaloa, Mexico) -- Photographs.
Mexico -- Buildings, structures, etc. -- Photographs.
Mexico -- Photographs.
Mexico City (Mexico) -- Photographs.
Mother Lode (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Palm Springs (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Panamint (Calif.) -- Photographs.
Québec (Québec) -- Photographs.
Ruins -- Europe -- Photographs.
Saint Lawrence River -- Photographs.
Seoul (Korea) -- Photographs.
Southwest, New -- Photographs.
Taxco (Mexico) -- Photographs.
Thousand Islands (N.Y. and Ont.) -- Photographs.
Watertown (N.Y.) -- Photographs.
Aerial views.
Cabinet photographs.
Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.).
Cyanotypes.
Negatives.
Photograph albums.
Photographs.
Portraits.
Postcards.
Champion, Clyde W., photographer.
Clark, Alson Skinner, 1876-1949, compiler.
Clark, Alson Skinner, 1876-1949, photographer.
Fung Tai, photographer.
Kourken, photographer.
Paar, Th., photographer.
Soreboe, photographer.
Spalding, Eudora, photographer.
Tyler, Harold, photographer.
Yamamoto, S. (Beijing), photographer.
A.M. Photo Mexico, photographer.
Dickson & Thurber (Firm), photographer.
Hiller, photographer.
Hiller Studio, photographer.
Keystone Photo Service, photographer.
Pow Kee (Nanking), photographer.