Alson Clark Collection of Photographs, approximately 1889-1939, 1962, bulk 1889-1939

Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Creators:
Clark, Alson Skinner, 1876-1949
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.
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.
Language:
English.

Background

Scope and content:

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.

Biographical / historical:

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.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Alson Clark, Jr., April 19, 1992.
Arrangement:

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

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

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.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2129
reference@huntington.org
Website