Paraskeva Clark facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Paraskeva Clark
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Self-portrait painted by Paraskeva Clark in 1933, currently held in the National Gallery of Canada's collection
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| Born | October 28, 1898 |
| Died | August 10, 1986 (aged 87) |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Known for | Painter |
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Notable work
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Petroushka |
Paraskeva Clark RCA (October 28, 1898 – August 10, 1986) was an important Canadian painter. She believed that artists should show what's happening in the world, especially social issues. Her art often had strong political messages.
Clark was part of several art groups, like the Canadian Group of Painters and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Today, many of her amazing paintings are kept in famous places like the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Contents
Paraskeva Clark's Early Life
Paraskeva Clark was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1898. She was the oldest of three children. Her parents made sure she got more schooling than most girls at that time. Her father loved books and learning, and her mother made artificial flowers to help the family earn money.
After finishing school in 1914, Clark worked in a shoe factory. When she was 17, her mother passed away. Clark loved the theatre and first wanted to be an actress, but training was too expensive.
Discovering Art in Russia
A coworker encouraged Clark to try art classes. From 1916 to 1918, she took evening classes at the Petrograd Academy of Fine Arts. The school closed for a bit after the Russian Revolution in 1917.
When it reopened as the tuition-free Free Art Studios, Clark was accepted and even received money to study. She left in 1921 and started painting sets for theatres. This is where she met Oreste Allegri Jr., an Italian scene painter.
They married in 1922 and had a son, Benedict, in 1923. They planned to move to France, but sadly, Oreste drowned that summer. Clark and Benedict moved to Paris to live with Oreste's family.
Life in Paris and Moving to Canada
In Paris, Clark met many artists, including Pablo Picasso, through her in-laws. She had little time for her own art while caring for her son and doing housework. Still, she created a painting called Memories of Leningrad in 1923: Mother and Child in 1924 and a self-portrait in 1925.
In 1929, Benedict went to boarding school during the week. Clark got a job at an interior design shop. There, she met Philip Clark, a Canadian accountant. They fell in love and married in London in 1931.
After their wedding, Clark and Benedict moved with Philip to Toronto, Canada. In 1933, they welcomed a new son, Clive, to the family.
Artistic Style and Influences
In 1916, Clark started taking night art classes with landscape painter Savely Seidenberg. She learned to draw from plaster models and later from live models. She also talked with other students about different art styles like impressionism, post-impressionism, and cubism.
Clark was also influenced by Vasily Shukhayev, a painter and set designer. The Russian Revolution brought big changes to the art world. Clark knew many famous artists who were creating new styles like Cubism and Futurism for the new government.
Learning from Petrov-Vodkin
Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin was a thoughtful painter who mixed European art ideas with his Russian experiences. From him, Clark learned about deep, intellectual thinking. She was very interested in color and still life paintings.
Petrov-Vodkin taught her about his theories of space and how to show things from different angles. He taught her a technique called "spherical perspective," where figures and objects look a bit twisted to create a feeling of movement.
Clark used Petrov-Vodkin's ideas in her own art. For example, in her 1947 painting Essentials of Life, she tilted lines and shapes. He also taught her about Paul Cézanne's methods of shifting angles in a picture.
In her 1933 Self Portrait, Clark used Petrov-Vodkin's ideas for how to arrange the painting. However, she chose to use a lot of black, which was different from her teacher's style. The painting shows her leaning against a door, with strong features and simple elegance.
Other Influences
Art critics have noticed two main influences in Clark's work: Cézanne and, to a lesser extent, Picasso. She used color like Cézanne to create shapes. She also organized her portraits and still life paintings in a way that showed she understood Pablo Picasso.
Her painting Pink Cloud (1937) is known for its beautiful use of color. In In the Woods (1939), you can clearly see Cézanne's influence in how she painted the forest floor. This shows she knew about European art trends and her Russian training.
Her 1933 paintings Self Portrait and Portrait of Philip were very important. They showed how she could combine the person, time, space, and architecture in her art. She was inspired by Cézanne's way of balancing shapes and using paint.
For example, in Portrait of Philip, she created a balanced pattern of lines. This helped support the calm figure of her husband. Even though the viewer looks down into the painting, they still meet Philip's eyes.
Petroushka: A Political Painting
One of Clark's most famous paintings is Petroushka (1937). It looks like a simple scene of street performers. However, Clark painted it because she was upset about newspaper reports of police killing striking steelworkers in Chicago in 1937.
She used the story of Petrushka, a puppet from Russian tradition who represents suffering people, to show what was happening in North America.
Clark believed artists had a big responsibility. She said, "Those who work for social change have the right to expect great help from the artist. And I cannot imagine a more inspiring role than that which the artist is asked to play for the defence and advancement of civilization."
Clark's Political Views
Clark faced financial challenges when she was young because her parents were working class. This, along with the revolution in Russia, made her believe that artists should show social issues in their work.
She felt that some artists, like the Group of Seven, didn't focus enough on real-world problems. She admired artists who created "socially conscious Canadian art."
Clark was a socialist and openly called herself a "red Russian" communist. She was one of the few artists in Canada at the time making political art. She joined the Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy.
World War II Efforts
During World War II, Clark was worried about her home country, Russia. She actively supported Russia against the Nazi threat. In 1942, she sold some of her art to donate money to the Canadian Aid to Russia Fund.
The National Gallery of Canada also asked her to paint what the Women's Divisions of the Armed Forces were doing during the war. For example, Parachute Riggers (1947) shows women packing parachutes in a factory.
Clark's art from this time showed her strong political feelings. Petroushka (1937) is the most well-known. Other works, like Pavlichenko and Her Comrades at the Toronto City Hall (1943), also showed her support for the "heroic red army." Her political art was quite unique for that time.
Later Life and Legacy
In 1943, Paraskeva Clark's oldest son, Benedict, was hospitalized with schizophrenia. She paused her art career for a while. Even when she started painting again a year later, it was hard to balance her family duties with her art.
From 1951 to 1956, Clark had several big solo art shows that were well-received. Her son Clive married in 1959 and gave her three grandchildren, who brought her much joy. Sadly, Benedict was hospitalized again in 1957, which affected Clark's art production.
In 1965, after some of her work was rejected, Clark left the Ontario Society of Artists. In 1974, she and her son Benedict had a shared art show. The National Gallery of Canada bought her painting Myself (1933) that year.
Many exhibitions and projects featuring her art happened in her later years. This included a 1982 film by the National Film Board of Canada called Portrait of the Artist as an Old Lady. In 1974, Clark said about her art, "I cannot complain, I have had a very good career, considering a great deal of my time has been spent on being a wife and a mother."
Philip Clark, her husband, passed away in 1980. Paraskeva Clark lived in a nursing home for a time before having a stroke. She passed away on August 10, 1986, at the age of 87.
See also
- Canadian official war artists
- War artist
- Military art
