The University Club of Pasadena is honored to own seven original paintings by Alson Skinner Clark that grace our walls and are enjoyed daily by members and guests.
Alson Skinner Clark (March 25, 1876 - March 23, 1949) is one of America's most important Impressionist painters. Born in Chicago, his art education included training at the Art Institute of Chicago (where he started at the age of 11), the Art Students League of New York, the Chase School of Art, and the Academy Carmen (with Whistler).
After his formal trainings, Clark established studios in Watertown, New York, and Chicago. Clark also spent much of his early career working in Paris, with additional influential time in Giverny (Claude Monet's village). Here he worked alongside Guy Rose in the American colony. Clark as well proudly served in the US Army as an aerial photographer during World War I.
Around 1920, for health reasons, Clark and his wife Medora relocated to Pasadena, after being expatriates for the greater part of the first two decades of the 20th Century. The couple traveled extensively throughout the state, across the Southwest, and to Mexico. Back in Pasadena, Clark taught fine art at Occidental College and was Director of the Stickney Memorial School of Art.
The artist took up mural painting shortly after his arrival in southern California, however, he primarily considered himself to be a landscape painter with an additional keen interest in historical architecture. The beauty of Clark's west coast paintings created an eternal bond with the region. Where many contemporaries pushed abstraction and surrealism, Clark used his technical expertise and subtle manipulation of light and color to hold to his mature established Impressionism. In this he pleased critics and patrons alike. A true worldly artist, Alson Skinner Clark enjoyed a lifetime career.