Edward Clark (artist) facts for kids

Edward (Ed) Clark (May 6, 1926 – October 18, 2019) was an abstract expressionist painter. This means his art focused on colors, shapes, and lines, not on showing real-life objects. He was famous for his big, strong brushstrokes and bright colors. He also painted on very large canvases.

Ed Clark was an African-American artist. For a long time, his amazing work wasn't as well known as it should have been. But later in his career, people began to see him as a major modern artist. He was a pioneer, meaning he was one of the first to use special shaped canvases. He also famously used a regular push broom to create his striking artworks.

Early Life and Art Training

Ed Clark was born on May 6, 1926, in New Orleans, Louisiana. When he was seven, his family moved to Chicago. His mother and other relatives mostly supported the family. Ed's mother was very religious and sent him to Catholic schools. The nuns there noticed he was good at drawing. They encouraged him to create religious art for the classroom.

In 1944, during World War II, Ed Clark was 17. He left high school and joined the U.S. Army Air Forces. He served with an all-black unit in Guam. After leaving the military in 1946, he used his GI Bill of Rights benefits. This program helped soldiers pay for college. He enrolled in night classes at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. There, he studied with artists like Louis Ritman and Helen Gardner. In 1952, he moved to Paris to study at the famous Académie de la Grande Chaumière.

Paris: A New Artistic Path

Paris was a very exciting place for the 26-year-old Clark. Many famous artists like Picasso and Matisse were living there. He said, "Everybody was there! ... And they were like gods then!" When he arrived, he painted realistic pictures. But soon, he started painting abstract art. He was especially inspired by the Russian-French painter Nicolas de Staël. De Staël used thick, block-like shapes of bright color.

Clark later said that a realistic portrait was like "a lie." He believed "the truth is in the physical brushstroke." For him, the paint itself was the main subject of the painting. In Paris, Clark joined a group of black American artists. They had moved there to escape racism in the U.S. He became friends with writers like James Baldwin and painters like Beauford Delaney. He also met white artists such as Joan Mitchell and Sam Francis. In 1955, he had his first solo art show at Gallerie Creuze in Paris.

New York: Facing Challenges

In 1956, Clark returned to the United States. He was encouraged by his artist friend George Sugarman. A year later, he helped start the Brata Gallery in New York City. This was a special gallery run by artists themselves. He also worked as a gallery assistant.

During this time, it was hard for black painters to get noticed by the art world in New York. Clark remembered, "I couldn’t get into a commercial gallery where a white person was running it." He often had to rent spaces himself to show his art.

Unique Techniques and Ideas

Ed Clark found his special painting style in the mid-1950s in Paris. He wanted to cover large areas of canvas with wide, straight strokes. His regular paintbrushes and wrist couldn't do it. So, he picked up a janitor's push broom. He would often put the canvas on the floor. With the broom, Clark spread color in wide, sweeping lines. These lines showed lots of energy and speed. He called this his "big sweep."

He started with oil paints, but later used bright acrylic paints on large canvases. He also used soft, dry pigments on paper. Even though his art was abstract, sometimes his paintings looked like dreamy landscapes or even human shapes. He also had favorite colors. An art critic named April Kingsley wrote that pink was as important to him as orange was to Cezanne or yellow to Van Gogh.

In 1957, Clark started to break the rules of a normal canvas. He made parts of his painted surface go beyond the usual rectangular frame. Then, in the late 1960s, he tried something new. He began using oval-shaped canvases. He explained that these shapes matched how human eyes see the world.

Over the years, Clark traveled a lot. He went to places like Nigeria, New Mexico, Cuba, and China. He also often returned to Paris. These trips helped him see light and color in new ways, which inspired his art.

Personal Life

Ed Clark had one daughter, Melanca Clark. A newspaper interviewer in 2014 described him as "a force of nature." They said he was "vital and charming, witty."

Museums and Collections

Ed Clark's paintings are kept in many important museums around the world. These include:

• The Art Institute of Chicago
• The Detroit Institute of Arts
• The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• The Museum of Modern Art, New York
• The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, D.C.
• The California Afro-American Museum, Los Angeles
• The Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
• The James E. Lewis Museum of Art at Morgan State University, Baltimore
• The Museum of Modern Art in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
• The Centro de Arte Moderno in Guadalajara, Mexico
• The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida
• The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
• The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York
• The Dallas Museum of Art
• The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
• The Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey
• The Perez Art Museum, Miami
• The Saint Louis Art Museum
• The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Here are some of the places where Ed Clark had his own art shows:

• 1951 YMCA, Chicago, Illinois
• 1955: Galerie Creuze, Paris
• 1966: Galerie Creuze, Paris
• 1969: American Embassy, Paris
• 1971: Donald Judd's Loft, New York City
• 1972: Lehman College, New York City; 141 Prince Street Gallery, New York City; Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan
• 1974: South Houston Gallery, New York City
• 1975: James Yu Gallery, New York City
• 1976: Sullivant Gallery, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
• 1981: Citicorp Center, New York City
• 1986: "Paris to New York, 1966–1986," G.R.N'Namdi Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan
• 1989: Galerie Kasser-Bohbot, Hamburg, Germany
• 1990: FIAC, Grand Palais, Paris; G.R.N'Namdi Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan
• 1991: "The Search for Freedom: African-American Abstraction 1945–1975," Kenkeleba Gallery, New York City
• 1996: "Explorations in the City of Lights: African-American Artists in Paris, 1945–1975," Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City
• 1997: "Sweeps & Views; Clark & Cowans," Rush Arts Gallery, New York City
• 2002: "Quiet as it's Kept," Christine Koenig Gallery, Vienna
• 2003: "From Paris to New York," Parish Gallery, Washington, D.C.
• 2007: "Ed Clark: For the Sake of the Search," Pensacola Museum of Art, Pensacola, Florida
• 2009: "Masters for the First Family," Parish Gallery, Washington, D.C.
• 2011: "Ed Clark, The Search: A Sixty-Year Retrospective," the N'Namdi Center of Contemporary Art, Detroit
• 2012: "Louisiana Roots: Ed Clark Returns Home," Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans
• 2013: "Blues for Smoke," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City
• 2014: "Unveiled," University of Maryland University College, Marlboro
• 2014: "Ed Clark: A Thousand Lights of Sun," The Mistake Room, Los Angeles
• 2014: "Ed Clark: Big Bang," Tilton Gallery, New York City
• 2015: "Ed Clark: Locomotion," N'Namdi Contemporary, Miami
• 2015: "Works on Paper", Greene Naftali, New York City
• 2016: "Ed Clark," N'Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, Detroit
• 2017: "Ed Clark: Paintings," Tilton Gallery, New York
• 2017: "Impulse," Pace Gallery, London
• 2017: "Ed Clark," Weiss Gallery, Berlin
• 2018: Ed Clark: A Survey, Mnuchin Gallery, New York City
• 2019: Ed Clark, Hauser & Wirth, New York City
• 2021: "Ed Clark: Expanding the Image," Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles
• 2022: "Ed Clark: Without a Doubt," Hauser & Wirth, London

Books About Ed Clark

• Kenkeleba Gallery (New York, N.Y.), The search for freedom : African American abstract painting 1945–1975 : May 19 – July 14, 1991, Kenkeleba Gallery, New York.
• Asake Bomani and Belvie Rooks, ‘’The Paris connections : African American artists in Paris’’ ISBN: 0-936609-25-7
• Marika Herskovic, American abstract expressionism of the 1950s : an illustrated survey : with artists' statements, artwork and biographies ISBN: 0-9677994-1-4. p. 78–81