Visiting the World Class Clark Art Institute

Hi there! Did you have a good weekend? My sweet daughter came home from college on Friday, so we’ve been enjoying time with her. Saturday sweet husband and I shopped one of my very favorite neighborhood garage sales in the Westlawn neighborhood of Schenectady (NY). Really, it’s more like a large town, and it’s filled with street after street of older homes, selling just about everything you can imagine. Tons. Of. Fun.

But that all has nothing to do with today’s post, in which I’ll take you on a tour of one of my absolute favorite local museums–the Clark Art Institute in nearby Williamstown (MA). We love it there and try to visit at least every couple of years. Some of their temporary exhibits are phenomenal, but let’s take a look at some of there permanent artwork.

Other cultural posts you might enjoy: Albany Institute of History and Art, the Bennington Museum, and Saratoga’s Congress Park & Museum.

Clark Art Institute Architecture

In 1955, Sterling and Francine Clark, opened this beautiful marble museum designed by Daniel Perry, to house their extensive art collection, including individual works by artists as diverse as Monet and Botticelli , along with a world-class selection of works by Renoir. 

In 2014 the Clark Center–connected to the original marble museum–opened with 11,000 square feet of new exhibit space. Immediately adjacent to it is a three-tiered, Japanese-inspired reflecting pool that is to die for.

Bob and I enjoyed a lovely lunch from the museum restaurant while sitting in the Adirondack chairs out on the concrete “deck.” A rather large overhang attached to the building provides cover over a selection of tables and chairs in case of inclement weather.

August Renoir at the Clark Art Institute

Let’s start with works that the Clark’s clearly favored, those by August Renoir, considered an Impressionist, but his oeuvre extends beyond that finite description. This example, Apples (1883), happens to be the last Renoir acquired by the Clark’s prior to opening the museum. It’s an absolute favorite of mine. 

Biographers attribute Sterling Clark’s taste for impressionism to his living in Paris for the first decade of the 20th century. And in fact, he met and married his wife, Francine during this period.

Another favorite (how many am I allowed??), entitled Onions (1881). Who knew onions could be so beautiful and evocative? The aqua blue background is perfection as a backdrop for the pearlescent peach onions.

Ahh, and these three beauties (1) Woman with a Fan (1879), (2) Marie-Therese Sewing (1882) and (3) Sleeping Girl (1880). The vibrancy of color and the intriguing subject matter draw the viewer into Renoir’s engaging world.

And finally, a scene for which Renoir, and his friend Degas, are quite well-known, ballet dancers. In this scene, Entrance of the Masked Dancers (1879), we enjoy a back-stage view of dancers (in Mozart’s Don Giovanni) moving off-stage as masked dancers prepare to go on-stage.

Note also that one of Degas ballerina statues, Little Dancer Aged 14 (1879-81), also belongs to the Clark collection.

American Artists at the Clark Art Institute

American Winslow Homer, another Clark favorite, is also well-represented in their collection. He painted a number of scenes from the Adirondack Mountains and Hudson River throughout his career and as a result has become my family’s “favorite artist.” This piece, Easter Point (1900) captures a scene on the Maine coast, another of his favorite locales.

This close-up of Farmyard Scene (1872-74), demonstrates Homer’s love of idyllic genre scenes. The homeyness of a young girl feeding foul in dappled sunlight speaks to that simpler way of life that we sometimes crave.

George Inness, another American painter from the late 19th century, dazzles me with his lush landscapes filled with mossy greens and bucolic cloud-gathered skies. One can clearly see the influence of both the Barbizon and Hudson River Schools in this work, Road to the Village (1880).

Painted almost completely in shades of white, Smoke of Ambergris (1880) by John Singer Sargent (an American expat), is for me a highlight of the Clark. While known primarily for his portraits, he painted this North African genre scene for the 1880 Paris Salon exhibition.

The Western art of Fredrick Remington, whether paintings or sculpture, always pleases, including Dismounted: The Fourth Trooper Leading the Lead Horses (1890). Art critics unite in praising his equine renderings, particularly these which seem to literally fly through the air. 

More European Artists at the Clark Art Institute

Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, a French artist, sculpted this marble bust–Mater Dolorosso (Sorrowful Mother)–after encountering a young mother who had just lost her child on the street in Paris (1870). It expresses the universal nature of loss that one often finds attributed to Mary the Mother of God.

[This may be a bit off-topic, but I’m reading a fantastic and insightful book by Tim Keller about suffering called Walking with God through Pain and Suffering. I can’t recommend it more highly.]

This round tondo by the Early Renaissance artist Botticelli just takes my breath away every time I see it: Virgin and Child with St. John the Baptist (1490). One doesn’t expect to find a piece by a Renaissance Master outside of a large city, but here it is(!). 

Upon leaving the Institute campus, we passed this Monet-esque lily pond, which I couldn’t resist taking a few photos of. A perfect ending to a delightful day.

I cannot more highly recommend a visit to the Clark, a gem of a museum tucked away in the foothills of the Berkshires.

Clark Art Institute
225 South Street
Williamstown, MA 01267
413-458-2303 

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