Alson Clark "Top of the World, Cuernavaca Cathedral, Mexico" 26 x 32 inches, oil on canvas, excellent condition! Available.Cuernavaca is known as the City of Eternal Springs. Originally, it was established by the Olmec, "the mother culture" of Mesoamerica, approximately 3200 years ago. Today, by car it is located thirty minutes south of Mexico City. Its pleasant climate has attracted royalty and nobles since Aztec times. Most of the Aztec emperors called Cuernavaca their summer residence. Foreign princes, archdukes, and other nobles have been attracted to this place because of its flowers, sun, fruits, fresh-water springs, and waterfalls. Today, it is called the Beverly Hills of Mexico City and many of these residents includes artists, intellectuals, and film stars. . Alson Clark titles his painting "Top of the World" referencing Cuernavaca's elevation of 5000 feet with majestic panoramic views overlooking a valley floor below. The Cuernavaca Cathedral is the city's main church, the cathedral was originally a gift to the population from Cortés, but it also doubled as a fortress, with cannons mounted above the buttresses.
Alson Clark "Mountain View, 1924" 18.5 x 22 inches, oil on canvas. AVAILABLE
Alson Clark Biography:
Alson Skinner Clark was an American painter that holds a high place in the California School of Impressionism. Born in Chicago, Illinois on March 25, 1876, Alson Clark, at age of eleven enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago, continued in New York City at the Art Students League, and with William Merritt Chase and Frank Duveneck.
Throughout his career Alson Clark always remained a loyal follower of French Impressionism. Beginning in 1898 he went to Paris to study at Académie Carmen under James Whistler. Returning to the U.S. in 1901, he established a studio in Watertown, New York, and then returned to Chicago where in 1903 sales in a successful exhibition allowed for travel in Canada and Europe.
After serving as an aerial photographer in WWI, he settled in southern California. Inspired by time spent in Giverny with Guy Rose and other impressionists, Clark delighted in applying his craft to the California landscape. Adapting to California's intense sunlight gradually his palette brightened considerably. Teaming up with his fellow Giverny colleague, in 1922 he and Guy Rose formed the teaching faculty of Pasadena's Stickney Art School. During this period he also had a studio in Palm Springs. He taught landscape classes at Occidental College in Eagle Rock in the late 1930s.
With a legacy as being one of southern California's most renowned painters, Clark died of a heart attack in Pasadena on March 22, 1949.
Public Collections:
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
Muskegon Art Gallery, Minnesota,
San Diego Museum of Art, California,
Gardena High School, California
Irvine Museum, Irvine, California
Fleischer Museum, Scottsdale, Arizona
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California
