Biography from AskART:
| Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Edward Clark "could be credited as the
architect of the shaped canvas." He studied at the Art Institute
of Chicago from 1946 to 1951 and during this time was painting in a
realist and impressionist style. However, his approach changed
between 1952 and 1958, when he first lived in Paris and enrolled at the
Academy de la Grande Chaumiere. A major influence towards
abstraction on him was Nicolas de Stael, Russian modernist painter with
whom he associated in France.
George Sugarman then persuaded him to return to New York to help found
the Brata Gallery with Ronald Bladen, Al Held and others. Clark showed
there until 1966, when he returned to France, which has remained his
primary residence.
He has been one of the early
African-American pioneers of abstract painting in the post-war era and
credits his early inspirations as being the paintings of Nicolas de
Stael and the music of Miles Davis and Charlie Parker, and later the
gestural abstractions of Hans Hartung and Pierre Soulages.
He has exhibited widely in modernist circles in New York City, Paris,
Washington DC, and Japan, including the 1973 Whitney Biennial. In fall,
1998, he had a special exhibition of his work at Cinque Gallery in New
York City. Commemorating his 40th anniversary of his first solo debut
in New York, the exhibit combined large-scale canvases and smaller
works on paper and showed his continuing commitment to abstraction. His
large canvases he places on the floor and paints with a pushbroom,
achieving a sense of pure motion.
Partial Source:
Gabariel Tenabe, "Edward Clark", St. James Guide to Black Artists
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Edward Clark is also mentioned in these AskART essays:
Abstract Expressionism
Black American Artists
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