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Ed Clark papers

Archives of American Art

Object Details

Creator
Clark, Edward, 1926-2019
Names
Cinque Gallery
Gentry, Herbert, 1919-2003
Hutson, Bill, 1936-
Joans, Ted
Occupation
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
Painters -- France -- Paris
Topic
African American artists
Abstract expressionism
Painting, Abstract
Shaped canvas
Provenance
The Ed Clark papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Melanca Clark, Ed Clark's daughter.
Creator
Clark, Edward, 1926-2019
See more items in
Ed Clark papers
Sponsor
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Henry Luce Foundation.
Summary
The papers of African American abstract expressionist painter Ed Clark measure 8.9 linear feet and date from 1923 to 2017. The collection documents Clark's work as a professional artist through biographical material; correspondence with family, galleries, and friends, most notably Cinque Gallery, Herbert Gentry, Bill Hutson, and Ted Joans; writings, including documentation for the book Edward Clark: For the Sake of the Search; personal business records, including consignment and sales records; and material related to professional activities, including files on significant exhibitions and projects, gallery files, and teaching records. Also in the collection are exhibition announcements, catalogs, news clippings, and other printed material documenting Clark's work; photographic material depicting Ed Clark, his artwork, and other individuals; and a small amount of original artwork by Clark and others.
Biographical / Historical
Ed Clark (1926- ) is an abstract expressionist painter who worked in Paris, France and New York. Clark was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1926. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1946 to 1951 and enrolled at the Académie de la Grande Chaumièré in Paris after his arrival there in 1952. After his return to the United States, Clark became a charter member of the Brata Gallery. In 1957 he premiered his shaped canvas at the Brata Gallery Christmas group show. This shaped canvas is generally considered to be the first of its kind. In 1958, he began using a push broom to apply broad strokes of color to canvases on his studio floor. Ed Clark has received multiple awards and honors including the National Endowment for the Arts' Master Award (1972), the United States Congressional Achievement Award (1994), and the Art Institute of Chicago's Legends and Legacy Award (2013). He has exhibited widely and his work is held in many collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, the California Afro-American Museum, the Centro de Arté Moderno in Guadalajara, Mexico, the Detroit Institute of the Arts, Louisiana State University, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the New York Public Library Schomburg Center.
Extent
8.9 Linear feet
Date
1923-2017
Archival Repository
Archives of American Art
Identifier
AAA.clarked
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Citation
Ed Clark papers, 1923-2017. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged as eight series. Series 1: Biographical Material, 1943-2016 (Boxes 1, 10; 0.5 linear feet) Series 2: Correspondence, 1926, circa 1943-2016 (Boxes 1-3; 2.1 linear feet) Series 3: Writings, 1955, 1980-2006, 2015, undated (Boxes 3-4, 10; 0.7 linear feet) Series 4: Personal Business Records, 1953, 1966-2015 (Boxes 4, 10; 0.9 linear feet) Series 5: Professional Activities, circa 1954-2016 (Boxes 4-5, 10; 0.7 linear feet) Series 6: Printed Material, 1923-1926, 1950-2017, undated (Boxes 5-8, 10, OV 11-14; 3.3 linear feet) Series 7: Photographic Material, 1928, 1952-2014, undated (Boxes 8-9, 10; 0.6 linear feet) Series 8: Artwork, 1977-1997, undated (Boxes 9-10, OV 14; 0.1 linear feet)
Processing Information
The collection was processed and a finding aid prepared by Rayna Andrews in 2018 with funding from the Henry Luce Foundation.
Scope and Contents
The papers of African American abstract expressionist painter Ed Clark measure 8.9 linear feet and date from 1923 to 2017. The collection documents Clark's work as a professional artist through biographical material; correspondence with family, galleries, and friends, most notably Cinque Gallery, Herbert Gentry, Bill Hutson, and Ted Joans; writings, including documentation for the book Edward Clark: For the Sake of the Search; personal business records, including consignment and sales records; and material related to professional activities, including files on significant exhibitions and projects, gallery files, and teaching records. Also in the collection are exhibition announcements, catalogs, news clippings, and other printed material documenting Clark's work; photographic material depicting Ed Clark, his artwork, and other individuals; and a small amount of original artwork by Clark and others.
Restrictions
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings and born-digital records with no duplicate copies requires advance notice.
Related Materials
A 30-minute documentary recording, Ed Clark: a brush with success (2007) produced by Mark Hammond and Charles Martin is available at the Anacostia Community Museum Library.
Related link
Record ID
ebl-1552057217048-1552057217296-0
Metadata Usage
CC0
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9591c8e79-7501-4649-aca7-b2703a3f44ce

In the Collection

Pages

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  • 1978-1988: 10 Anos de Luta Contra o Racismo

  • Construction Permit Drawings

  • Photograph Album, Family Photographs

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Jacob Lawrence

  • Artwork

  • American Artists in Photographic Portraits From the Peter A. Juley & Son Collection Compiled and Written by Joan Stahl

  • Exhibition and Event Press Packet, Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952-1965 (2017) Exhibition at Grey Art Gallery

  • Oversize Photographs of Works of Art by Ed Clark and Others

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Vincent Smith

  • Photographs, Snapshots, and Designs for Lewis Family and TLC Beatrice International Holdings

  • Poetry Books and Pamphlets

  • Black Renaissance

  • Exhibition and Event Catalogs Related to Ed Clark

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Etc. Related to Ed Clark

  • Printed Reproductions of Ed Clark Works of Art

  • Oversize Photographs and Designs for Lewis Family and TLC Beatrice International Holdings

  • Oversize Photographs of Ed Clark with Works of Art

  • Social Security Reform Summary and Legal Brief, Prepared In Part by Melanca Clark

  • The Negroes Among Us by Albert Q. Maisel from Reader's Digest

  • Photograph Album, Event/Exhibition

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Etc. Related to Ed Clark

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Reginald Lewis, Lewis Family, and TLC Beatrice

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Benny Andrews

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Robert Blackburn

  • Oversize Digital Prints

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Norman Lewis

  • Works of Art and Designs by Ed Clark and Others

  • Posters

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Charles Alston

  • Exhibition and Event Press Packet, Diggs Gallery Vivacious!! II (2004) Exhibition and Contemporary Art Symposium

  • Exhibition Announcement/Catalog Design Proofs

  • BOMB Magazine

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Robert Colescott

  • Critical: A Review of Art and Criticism

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Romare Bearden

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Frank Bowling

  • Magazines, Newsletters, and Brochures

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Ealy Mays

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Danny Simmons

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Charles Searles

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Nanette Carter

  • Newspaper from the Day of Ed Clark's Birth

  • Oversize Magazines, Newsletters, and Brochures

  • Photocopy, Loner in Paris: Archibald J. Motley Jr., 1929-1930 Chapter in New Negro Artists in Paris by Theresa Leininger-Miller

  • Exhibition and Event Catalogs Related to Ed Clark, Photocopies and Excerpts

  • Richard Wright's "Island of Hallucination" and the "Gibson Affair" by Richard Gibson

  • Photograph Album, Event/Exhibition

  • Oversize Exhibition Catalog Related to Ed Clark

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Arthur Beatty

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Beauford Delaney

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Jack Whitten

  • Studio: The Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine

  • Black Heritage Resource Guide and History 109A Syllabus and Reading

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Jean Miotte

  • Exhibition and Event Announcements, Invitations, Catalogs, Clippings, Etc. Related to Others — Melvin Edwards

  • Oversize BOMB Magazine

  • Afro-American Abstraction by April Kingsley

  • Other Assorted Printed Material

  • Vaz, Mimi

  • Invoices, Receipts, and Lists of Expenses Related to Mexico Trip

  • Ecole Normale Superieure de Saint-Cloud Attestation

  • Hoard, Adrienne

  • Gammon, Reginald

  • Energy/Experimentation: Black Artists and Abstraction, 1964-1980 (2006) Exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem

  • Oversize Certificates and Awards

  • Mattox, Thelma

  • Ed Clark Interview with Quincy Troupe Excerpts and Poem

  • Gallery Files, Jazzonia Gallery

  • Family, Correspondence Related to Tourist Visa for Xiping An, Liping/Lily's Sister

  • Persistence of Vision Documentary by Dirk Eitzen Accompanying Something to Look Forward to Exhibition

  • N'Namdi Family and G. R. N'Namdi Gallery

  • Morgan State University Distinguished Achievement Award

  • Olugebefola, Ademola

  • Barreto, Roberto

  • Invoices and Receipts

  • Ed Clark Studio Booklet, A Time To Remember Ed Clark: Works On Canvas

  • Koren, Gabriel

  • Cotinaud, Danyelle/Danielle

  • Gibson, Richard

  • Guest List, The Friends of Education Ed Clark Studio Visit RSVP

  • Auerbach, Herb

  • Seeing the World With Left-Eyed Clarity by Robert Samuel Bates, Jr. — Excerpts

  • Gallery Files, Manhattan East Gallery of Fine Arts/ Julia Hotton

  • Studio Expenses

  • Unmatched Envelopes

  • Printmaking Workshop

  • Ed Clark Exhibition Invitations, Book 1 — Compiled Printed Material Related to Ed Clark

  • Edward Clark: For the Sake of the Search Cover and Page Proofs

  • Family

  • K

  • Hutson, Bill

  • Mayhew, Richard

  • Poetry by Others

  • S

  • Invoices for Legal Fees, Immigration Lawyer

  • C

  • Bradley, Lorna "Punky" and Vernon

  • Yatziv, Irit

  • Nugent, Chris

  • Teaching Files and Class Rosters

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Ed Clark Passports
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