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The Clarks of Cooperstown: Their Singer Sewing Machine Fortune, Their Great and Influential Art Collections, Their Forty-Year Feud
Nicholas Fox Weber, author of the acclaimed Patron Saints (“Exhilarating avant-garde entertainment”—Sam Hunter, The New York Times Book Review ) and Balthus (“The authoritative account of his life and work”—Michael Ravitch, Newsday ), gives us now the idiosyncratic lives of Sterling and Stephen Clark—two of America’s greatest art collectors, heirs to the Singer sewing machine fortune, and for decades enemies of each other. He tells the story, as well, of the two generations that preceded theirs, giving us an intimate portrait of one of the least known of America’s richest families.
He begins with Edward Clark—the brothers’ grandfather, who amassed the Clark fortune in the late-nineteenth century—a man with nerves of steel; a Sunday school teacher who became the business partner of the wild inventor and genius Isaac Merritt Singer. And, by the turn of the twentieth century, was the major stockholder of the Singer Manufacturing Company.
We follow Edward’s rise as a real estate wizard making headlines in 1880 when he commissioned Manhattan’s first luxury apartment building. The house was called “Clark’s Folly”; today it’s known as the Dakota.
We see Clark’s son—Alfred—enigmatic and famously reclusive; at thirty-eight he inherited $50 million and became one of the country’s richest men. An image of propriety—good husband, father of four—in Europe, he led a secret homosexual life. Alfred was a man with a passion for art and charity, which he passed on to his four sons, in particular Sterling and Stephen Clark.
Sterling, the second-oldest, buccaneering and controversial, loved impressionism, created his own museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts—and shocked his family by marrying an actress from the Comédie Française. Together the Sterling Clarks collected thousands of paintings and bred racehorses.
In a highly public case, Sterling sued his three brothers over issues of inheritance, and then never spoke to them again.
He was one of the central figures linked to a bizarre and little-known attempted coup against Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency. We are told what really happened and why—and who in American politics was implicated but never prosecuted.
Sterling’s brother—Stephen—self-effacing and responsible—became chairman and president of the Museum of Modern Art and gave that institution its first painting, Edward Hopper’s House by the Railroad . Thirteen years later, in an act that provoked intense controversy, Stephen dismissed the Museum’s visionary founding director, Alfred Barr, who for more than a decade had single-handedly established the collection and exhibition programs that determined how the art of the twentieth century was regarded.
Stephen gave or bequeathed to museums many of the paintings that today are still their greatest attractions.
With authority, insight, and a flair for evoking time and place, Weber examines the depths of the brothers’ passions, the vehemence of their lifelong feud, the great art they acquired, and the profound and lasting impact they had on artistic vision in America.
He begins with Edward Clark—the brothers’ grandfather, who amassed the Clark fortune in the late-nineteenth century—a man with nerves of steel; a Sunday school teacher who became the business partner of the wild inventor and genius Isaac Merritt Singer. And, by the turn of the twentieth century, was the major stockholder of the Singer Manufacturing Company.
We follow Edward’s rise as a real estate wizard making headlines in 1880 when he commissioned Manhattan’s first luxury apartment building. The house was called “Clark’s Folly”; today it’s known as the Dakota.
We see Clark’s son—Alfred—enigmatic and famously reclusive; at thirty-eight he inherited $50 million and became one of the country’s richest men. An image of propriety—good husband, father of four—in Europe, he led a secret homosexual life. Alfred was a man with a passion for art and charity, which he passed on to his four sons, in particular Sterling and Stephen Clark.
Sterling, the second-oldest, buccaneering and controversial, loved impressionism, created his own museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts—and shocked his family by marrying an actress from the Comédie Française. Together the Sterling Clarks collected thousands of paintings and bred racehorses.
In a highly public case, Sterling sued his three brothers over issues of inheritance, and then never spoke to them again.
He was one of the central figures linked to a bizarre and little-known attempted coup against Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency. We are told what really happened and why—and who in American politics was implicated but never prosecuted.
Sterling’s brother—Stephen—self-effacing and responsible—became chairman and president of the Museum of Modern Art and gave that institution its first painting, Edward Hopper’s House by the Railroad . Thirteen years later, in an act that provoked intense controversy, Stephen dismissed the Museum’s visionary founding director, Alfred Barr, who for more than a decade had single-handedly established the collection and exhibition programs that determined how the art of the twentieth century was regarded.
Stephen gave or bequeathed to museums many of the paintings that today are still their greatest attractions.
With authority, insight, and a flair for evoking time and place, Weber examines the depths of the brothers’ passions, the vehemence of their lifelong feud, the great art they acquired, and the profound and lasting impact they had on artistic vision in America.
448 pages, Hardcover
First published May 8, 2007
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About the author
Nicholas Fox Weber
60 books43 followersNicholas Fox Weber is a cultural historian and Executive Director of the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. He has written extensively about both Josef and Anni Albers and curated many major exhibitions and retrospectives dedicated to their work. He is a graduate of Columbia College and Yale University and author of fourteen books including Patron Saints, The Art of Babar, The Drawings of Josef Albers, The Clarks of Cooperstown, Balthus, Le Corbusier: A Life, and The Bauhaus Group.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 9, 2024
The Wealthy art collectors
This book includes important details on the art collectors who used their wealth to create some of the most esteemed art institutions in the United States. It is also interesting in noting how a powerful company, Singer Sewing Machines, ends up in the hands of the lawyer who advised the inventor.
The need for more editing of this book sometimes makes it hard to get through. It is repetitive particularly with overt comparisons of brothers or fathers and sons.
This book includes important details on the art collectors who used their wealth to create some of the most esteemed art institutions in the United States. It is also interesting in noting how a powerful company, Singer Sewing Machines, ends up in the hands of the lawyer who advised the inventor.
The need for more editing of this book sometimes makes it hard to get through. It is repetitive particularly with overt comparisons of brothers or fathers and sons.
December 23, 2021
Fascinating subject that this book doesn't really do justice to. I found the author was repetitive, reworking the same "insights" into the story over and over. Overwritten and wordy. (When recounting that someone said something - Weber says "Butler adumbrated that...)
The main focus is on Sterling and Stephen Clark - heirs to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune.
Their grandfather Edward (1811-1882) was an attorney who took on Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875) as a client. Clark guided Singer in his patent lawsuits regarding his sewing machine and got 3/8 of the company as payment. The Dakota (Dakota Apartments) in NYC was Edward's project, although he died two years before it was completed.
Edward's son Alfred Corning Clark (1844-1896) collected art, toured Europe and engaged in philanthropy. At the time of his death he was worth over $25 million (over $600 million in today's dollar). It is generally accepted that Alfred, a quiet introspective man led a dual life. A well respected family man who had an ongoing relationship with a Norwegian tenor named Lorentz Severin Skougaard in a time when this would be scandalous. Another criticism of the book is that author Nicholas Fox Weber spends too much focus on this, bringing it up repeatedly and seeing its influence in many places. It almost felt salacious. He later brings up another person's homosexuality although it is completely irrelevant.
The next generation is the majority of the book, with the focus on 2nd son Sterling (1877–1956) and 4th son Stephen (1882–1960). They had a falling out over the disposition of the family trusts and didn't speak to each other for 40 years.
Both become major art collectors and would contribute greatly to major institutions.
Sterling built the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He also is noted for his involvement in a plot to take control of the administration of Franklin Roosevelt.
Stephen established the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Fenimore Art Museum and the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. He was a founding trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, and the benefactor behind its first donated work.
I also found the detail on each artwork's acquisition tedious - but the author is an art curator, so one would expect that and some readers may applaud it.
The main focus is on Sterling and Stephen Clark - heirs to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune.
Their grandfather Edward (1811-1882) was an attorney who took on Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875) as a client. Clark guided Singer in his patent lawsuits regarding his sewing machine and got 3/8 of the company as payment. The Dakota (Dakota Apartments) in NYC was Edward's project, although he died two years before it was completed.
Edward's son Alfred Corning Clark (1844-1896) collected art, toured Europe and engaged in philanthropy. At the time of his death he was worth over $25 million (over $600 million in today's dollar). It is generally accepted that Alfred, a quiet introspective man led a dual life. A well respected family man who had an ongoing relationship with a Norwegian tenor named Lorentz Severin Skougaard in a time when this would be scandalous. Another criticism of the book is that author Nicholas Fox Weber spends too much focus on this, bringing it up repeatedly and seeing its influence in many places. It almost felt salacious. He later brings up another person's homosexuality although it is completely irrelevant.
The next generation is the majority of the book, with the focus on 2nd son Sterling (1877–1956) and 4th son Stephen (1882–1960). They had a falling out over the disposition of the family trusts and didn't speak to each other for 40 years.
Both become major art collectors and would contribute greatly to major institutions.
Sterling built the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He also is noted for his involvement in a plot to take control of the administration of Franklin Roosevelt.
Stephen established the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Fenimore Art Museum and the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. He was a founding trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, and the benefactor behind its first donated work.
I also found the detail on each artwork's acquisition tedious - but the author is an art curator, so one would expect that and some readers may applaud it.
July 13, 2019
Extremely interesting: blending sewing machine history with art and biography. Many photos. The Clark gifts and donations to art museums are incredible...very surprising that I had not heard of them before, let alone the connection with Singer sewing machines. Lots of detail, some of it repetitious. I would like to finish the book sometime. So far, I just wish the author did not keep going on repetitively about Clark's livestyle choices.
January 8, 2025
Book is 60% biographical, 40% art history. It probably could be edited and eliminate 100 pages that go into thorough descriptions of the vast art collections, painting by painting.
By reading this book, it was the first time ever hearing of the attempted coup against FDR.
By reading this book, it was the first time ever hearing of the attempted coup against FDR.
September 10, 2021
A story of two brothers. There is art collecting, horse racing, family dysfunction, homosexuality, OH! and a plot to bring down the New Deal government of FDR. A great read. And some great art.
March 16, 2022
A startling three generational family history. Lots of drama in the family responsible for our staid, beautiful Clark in Williamstown. What do I think of Robert Sterling Clark now one might ask…
November 4, 2016
I picked this up to learn a little more about the history of the Clark family whose fortune still dominates Cooperstown, NY. The story of each generation of Clarks was more interesting than I could have imagined! I had no idea about the craziness of the Singer sewing machine inventor who Edward Clark partnered with, the double life essentially led by his son Alfred, and the grandsons who carried on the family torch and became very prominent as art collectors. Knowing little about art history, the book gave me some handy tutorials on modern art in particular, and a new appreciation for the important role of the Clarks in the success of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
I recently read stories of the Vanderbilt and Webb families, and in contrast to those family dynasties, the Clarks managed to retain and build on their massive wealth to this day. They essentially built the village of Cooperstown and its amenities (everything from the hospital to the baseball hall of fame), and their continued influence on the town is certainly still evident!
I recently read stories of the Vanderbilt and Webb families, and in contrast to those family dynasties, the Clarks managed to retain and build on their massive wealth to this day. They essentially built the village of Cooperstown and its amenities (everything from the hospital to the baseball hall of fame), and their continued influence on the town is certainly still evident!
October 11, 2009
A book on what is, in some ways, a strange topic, but, when one considers the impact, an essential one: what is the character of an art collector, particularly the builders of public collections. I thought it was a very compelling odyssey through a world of wealthy people, determined to do some real good, but who were so damaged in some way that they could not make common cause with their own families. Non-fiction, it must be stressed.
June 26, 2011
Interesting story about the family that gained control of the Singer sewing machine company (and resultant fortune) and how they spent it doing "good" for Cooperstown, NY and lavishly indulging their tastes in art--most of which, did wind up in major art museums. Major criticism--too much detail of what/why/how much, etc., regarding each piece of art purchased.
April 1, 2008
I really enjoyed the first parts of the book. I'm not interested in art, so when I got to the main characters, the two grandsons, I quit reading. Very fascinating stuff about the Singer manufacturing success.
March 18, 2014
A thoughtful look into the lives of the Gilded Age elite and their art collecting progeny. Yes, it is overwritten: the main story, however, is extraordinary. And if you don't care about art, it might help to read this book to understand why others are so passionate about it.
October 17, 2009
An interesting story of a talented, rich and disfunctional family of art collectors--but too repetitive, needs editing.
Currently reading
September 9, 2010Bought because I thought I should. 2007 when it came out. Read 150 plus pages. Very interesting, but hard to stay with it.
January 21, 2013
Fascinating look at the art collectors who were at the forefront of many of our countries fabulous art museums.
February 9, 2017
Meh...it was OK - I learned something about the Clark family.
July 28, 2013
very good
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews