Alson Skinner Clark is remembered as one of Southern California’s finest early Impressionists. He was born in Chicago, and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Students League in New York, and in Paris. He studied under William Merritt Chase, Frank Duveneck, and James McNeil Whistler. He opened a studio in Watertown, New York in 1901 but traveled around Canada and Europe during that decade. With a charcoal burner built into a palette so his paints did not freeze, he ventured outdoors to capture northern light. His early work in Impressionist landscapes focused on industrial structures and architecture. In California his plein-air landscapes were brighter, looser, and larger. Clark won a bronze medal at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco from his solo room in the show. Clark taught at the Stickney School, Pasadena. His work is now exhibited in prominent collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, and Fleischer Museum.
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