The Clark Brothers Collect: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings

by Michael Conforti, James A. Ganz, Neil Harris

Brothers Sterling and Stephen Clark―heirs to the Singer sewing machine fortune―were among the twentieth century’s most influential art collectors. This volume examines their magnificent collections, their personal lives and public profiles, and their significant roles in the history of American museums.
While the brothers shared a love for great art, they collected in different ways. Sterling was a private collector; his French Impressionist masterpieces, including thirty-eight Renoirs, and works by such American artists as Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Frederic Remington, and Mary Cassatt now form the distinguished collection of the Clark. Stephen, a businessman and museum trustee, acquired modern works by such masters as Georges Seurat, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh, often with specific museum collections in mind―including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Yale University Art Gallery.
Handsomely produced, this book features over two hundred illustrations of the works from Sterling’s and Stephen’s collections. It also includes essays by distinguished scholars, an illustrated chronology, and a previously unpublished checklist of works purchased by Stephen Clark.


Published in association with the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute

Exhibition The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (May 22 – August 19, 2007)
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts (June 4 – September 4, 2006)

384 pages, Hardcover

First published July 24, 2006

Reviews

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've marked this READ, but I will never be done with this book. I ordered it innocently enough, thinking it was just a nice art book. Well, it is, but it's enormous. And fascinating. What a collection this was. And it's just a wonderful book to look at over and over again. And to read bits and pieces whenever I feel in need of a little art history in my own living room. I think I view this as one of the best and most worthwhile books I've ever bought.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, artists are not very interesting in a vacuum, but whenI view artists in relation to those who get what they are trying to do, whether it is dealers or collectors, it all comes alive. The Clarks were two of the first few significant American collectors, and there related but divergent stories help explain to me how people in the US have grown to appreciate and understand European art.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story of America's premier private art collectors.