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Alson Clark Collection of Photographs : Finding Aid

Finding aid prepared by Sue Tyson.
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
© 2016
The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.

Overview of the Collection

Title: Alson Clark Collection of Photographs next hit
Dates (inclusive): approximately 1889-1939, 1962
Bulk dates: 1889-1939
Collection Number: photCL 361
Creator: Clark, Alson Skinner, 1876-1949
Extent: 1289 previous hit photographs next hit 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 previous hit photographs next hit , 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; previous hit photographs next hit 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 previous hit photographs next hit depicting India, China, and Korea in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and previous hit photograph next hit albums depicting the aftermath of World War I in Europe and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 in San Diego.
Language: English.

Access

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.  

Administrative Information

Publication Rights

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.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Alson Clark Collection of previous hit Photographs next hit , The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Provenance

Gift of Alson Clark, Jr., April 19, 1992.

Biographical Note

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.

Scope and Content

This collection contains 1289 previous hit photographs next hit , 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; previous hit photographs next hit 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 previous hit photograph next hit albums depicting the aftermath of World War I in Europe and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 in San Diego, and previous hit photographs next hit 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 previous hit photographs next hit 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 previous hit photographs next hit show people in camping parties, some depicting painters, including Clark, at work. previous hit Photographs next hit 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. previous hit Photographs next hit 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 previous hit photograph next hit 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.

Arrangement

previous hit Photographs next hit 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

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog.  

Subjects

Clark, Alson Skinner, 1876-1949.
Clark, Alson Skinner, 1876-1949 -- Homes and haunts -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Clark, Atta Medora McMullin, 1887-1973 -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Pasadena Playhouse -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Panama-California Exposition -- (1915 : San Diego, Calif.) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Artists' models -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Artists' studios -- California -- Pasadena -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Automobile travel -- Southwest, New -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Bathing beaches -- California -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Children -- Mexico -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Deserts -- California -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Deserts -- Southwest, New -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Dwellings -- California -- Pasadena -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Horsemanship -- Southwest, New -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Indians of Mexico -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Landscapes -- California -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Landscapes -- Southwest, New -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Markets -- Mexico -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Mountains -- California -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Mountains -- Southwest, New -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Mural painting and decoration -- California -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Plein air painting -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Schools -- California -- Pasadena -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Street vendors -- Mexico -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Ships in art -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Villages -- Mexico -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
World War, 1914-1918 -- Europe -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County, Calif.) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Baja California (Mexico: State) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Beijing (China) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Brittany (France) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Canada -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Carson City (Nev.) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
China -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Dalmatia (Croatia) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
France -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
India -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
La Jolla (San Diego, Calif.)-- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Mazatlán (Sinaloa, Mexico) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Mexico -- Buildings, structures, etc. -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Mexico -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Mexico City (Mexico) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Mother Lode (Calif.) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Palm Springs (Calif.) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Panamint (Calif.) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Québec (Québec) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Ruins -- Europe -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Saint Lawrence River -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Seoul (Korea) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Southwest, New -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Taxco (Mexico) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Thousand Islands (N.Y. and Ont.) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .
Watertown (N.Y.) -- previous hit Photographs next hit .

Forms/Genres

Aerial views.
Cabinet previous hit photographs next hit .
Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.).
Cyanotypes.
Negatives.
previous hit Photograph next hit albums.
previous hit Photographs next hit .
Portraits.
Postcards.

Contributors

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.

 

Container List

 

Series I. Alson Clark and Family, Studio, and Projects. 1889-1939, 1962

Physical Description: 238 items in 2 boxes and 1 flatfile

Scope and Content

This series contains portraits of Alson Clark, Medora Clark, and others; scenes from family travels chiefly in Europe, California and the Southwestern United States, and New York; depictions of Clark's home studio in Pasadena, California; and various projects, chiefly murals.
 

Subseries A. Portraits and family travels

Physical Description: 159 previous hit photographs next hit

Scope and Content Note

previous hit Photographs next hit include studio portraits of Alson Clark from 1893-1894 and from 1939 (plus a reprint of one portrait, dated 1962); images of Clark in Algiers and Paris; previous hit photographs next hit of Clark with Keith Spalding on the yacht Goodwill in 1920, taken by Eudora Spalding; depictions of Clark with Medora Clark and son Alson Clark, Jr., in Pasadena; Clark painting en plein air and in military uniform in 1918 (Folders 1-2); previous hit photographs next hit of Medora Clark (Folder 5); and images depicting people and residences in Thousand Islands, Comfort Island, Watertown, and Saint Lawrence, New York (Folders 7-9). Also included are four previous hit photographs next hit and a ticket book from travel to Spain in 1909 and 1910, one of these a portrait of Clark holding a palette (Folders 3-4), and one previous hit photograph next hit depicting artists and others seated around a table at a formal dinner in Pasadena, with people identified on verso (Folder 6).
Box 1, Folders 1-2

Alson Clark, Medora Clark, Alson Clark, Jr., and friends. 1889-1939, 1962

Box 1, Folders 3-4

Spain. 1909-1910

Box 1, Folder 5

Atta Medora Clark. 1911, approximately 1920-1935

Box 1, Folder 6

Various people. approximately 1889-1925

Box 1, Folders 7-9

New York. approximately 1915-1919, 1926

 

Subseries B. Studio home

Physical Description: 24 previous hit photographs next hit
Box 1, Folder 10

Interior and exterior views. 1920-1930

Box 4, Folder 1

Views of Arroyo Seco. approximately 1920

 

Subseries C. Various projects

Physical Description: 55 previous hit photographs next hit

Scope and Content Note

Includes one previous hit photograph next hit album containing 16 previous hit photographs next hit taken by Harold Tyler from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915 in San Diego, chiefly of buildings and also one previous hit photograph next hit of a curtain painted by Clark; exterior and interior views of the Pasadena Playhouse, including depictions of portions of Clark's mural; images of Clark's models, including an album with five previous hit photographs next hit of Medora Clark; and depictions of murals in the Polytechnic Elementary School and the First Trust and Savings Bank in Pasadena, with panels showing scenes from the cinema and shipping industries.
Box 4

previous hit Photograph next hit album, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Diego. 1915

Box 1, Folder 11

Pasadena Playhouse. approximately 1925

Box 1, Folder 12

Artists' models. approximately 1925-1928

Box 1, Folder 13

Murals. approximately 1925-1930

 

Series II. California and Southwest. Views. 1920-1939

Physical Description: 277 items in 3 boxes
 

Subseries A. California

Physical Description: 167 previous hit photographs next hit

Scope and Content Note

previous hit Photographs next hit include landscape views of the Colorado Desert, Palm Springs, Owens Valley, Sespe, La Jolla, Beaumont, and other locations, as well as wildflowers, people on horses, and onion harvesters parked with vehicles (Folders 1-3); and depictions of journeys to Palm Springs, some showing Medora Clark and others at a dwelling in the desert (Folder 4); Panamint City (Folder 5); and La Jolla (Folder 6), including beach scenes.
Box 2, Folders 1-3

California. Landscape views. approximately 1920-1930

Box 2, Folder 4

Palm Springs. approximately 1938

Box 2, Folder 5

Panamint City. approximately 1920-1938

Box 2, Folder 6

La Jolla. approximately 1920-1938

 

Subseries B. Southwest

Physical Description: 110 previous hit photographs next hit

Scope and Content Note

previous hit Photographs next hit include depictions of Indians, including in poses; Western models including cowboys in rodeos; and various buildings (Folder 1); Mother Lode towns, Carson City, Nevada, and Tyler, Texas (Folder 2); various landscape views depicting deserts and mountains (Folders 3-4); and oversize previous hit photographs next hit depicting bison on a range and locations in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and unidentified sites.
Box 3, Folder 1

Indians and Western models. approximately 1920-1938

Box 3, Folder 2

Mother Lode towns, Carson City, Nevada, and Tyler, Texas. approximately 1938

Box 3, Folders 3-4

United States Southwest. Landscape views. approximately 1920-1938

Box 4, Folder 2

Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. Views. approximately 1920-1938

 

Series III. Mexico. approximately 1920-1937

Physical Description: 507 previous hit photographs next hit and 2 clippings in 2 boxes

Scope and Content Note

Includes previous hit photographs next hit depicting markets, street scenes, street vendors, churches, indigenous people, and villages, as well as images depicting Mazatlán; Mexico City and environs; Taxco and Cuernavaca, including views of the Santa Prisca church and of cockfights; and Punta Banda, in which several previous hit photographs next hit show people camping and painting. Many of the previous hit photographs next hit are very small snapshots, 7 x 9 cm (2 x 3.5 in.) or smaller, taken by unidentified photographers; examples are in Box 6, Sleeves 1-3 and 6.
Box 5, Folders 1-4

Various views. approximately 1920-1937

Scope and Content Note

Includes a newspaper article describing the expansion of train service from Los Angeles to Tepic, Nayarit and a previous hit photograph next hit of one of Clark's paintings depicting a church, along with two previous hit photographs next hit of the church (Folder 3).
Box 6, Sleeves 1-2

Various views. approximately 1931

Box 6, Sleeve 3

Mazatlán. 1931

Box 6, Sleeve 4

Mexico City and environs. 1931

Box 6, Sleeves 5-6

Taxco. 1931

Box 6, Sleeve 7

Punta Banda. approximately 1937

 

Series IV. Views of Asia, Europe, and Canada. approximately 1905-1919

Physical Description: 267 previous hit photographs next hit in 4 boxes
Box 8, Folders 1-3

Asia approximately 1890-1910

Scope and Content Note

Contains 24 previous hit photographs next hit depicting China including the Forbidden City; palaces, temples, and street scenes in Beijing; statues of animals in Nanking and at the Western Qing Tombs; birds-eye views of Macao; Wuchang; and scenes from the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion, including an image of Westerners standing over corpses and heads of beheaded rebels (Folder 1); 3 previous hit photographs next hit of India including Benares, Darjeeling, and the Agra fort (Folder 2); and 4 previous hit photographs next hit depicting Seoul, Korea, including people at a festival and a birds-eye view of the city (Folder 3).
Box 5, Folder 5

Europe. approximately 1912-1914

Scope and Content Note

Includes one previous hit photograph next hit of Granada, Spain; 9 previous hit photographs next hit depicting street scenes, markets, and street vendors in Dalmatia; and unidentified cityscapes.
Box 6, Sleeves 8-10

France. approximately 1905-1919

Scope and Content Note

Includes views of Rochefort-en-Terre and other locations in Brittany, chiefly depictions of markets and street scenes as well as views of military parades and warplanes; the previous hit photographs next hit are 9 x 9 cm (3.5 x 3.5 in.) and smaller, chiefly 5 x 8 cm (2 x 3 in.).
Box 7

previous hit Photograph next hit album and previous hit photograph next hit . approximately 1917-1918

Scope and Content Note

Includes 1 previous hit photograph next hit album containing 39 previous hit photographs next hit depicting post-World War I scenes including buildings in ruins; a British dugout; coal mining machinery in Lens; a British Officers' rest house in Germany; soldiers and men, women, and children on streets in France and Brussels, Belgium; a post office in the Netherlands; and several images of Bailleul, including the destroyed Hotel de Ville. The loose previous hit photograph is an aerial image of an unidentified location by the United States Navy (1917).
Box 6, Sleeves 11-13

Canada. approximately 1906

Scope and Content Note

Includes views of the city and province of Québec, chiefly depicting city streets, villages, and residences, and also showing ships at a harbor, timber, and a few images of a flood.
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