Alson Clark was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 25, 1876. He began drawing at an early age and enrolled in Saturday classes at the Art Institute of Chicago while still in high school. Upon graduation he enrolled full-time but quit after one year to enroll at the Art Students League in New York where the faculty consisted of several important Impressionist painters. The foremost of these painter-instructors was William Meritt Chase. Within a few months of Clark's enrollment Chase broke away from the school and formed his own institution, the Chase School of Art. Clark enrolled in the first class at the new school in 1896. At Chase's urging, Clark and three of his classmates sailed to France in 1899 to further their art training. Clark travelled widely throughout the United States, Mexico and Europe painting the landscapes and architecture of the places he visited.

Biography courtesy of DeRu's Fine Arts, www.antiquesandfineart.com/derus

Born in Chicago, Illinois on March 25, 1876, Alson Clark, at age 11 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.

Late in 1898 he went to Paris for further study at Academie 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 where 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.

Clark died of a heart attack in Pasadena on March 22, 1949. One of southern California's most renowned painters, his early portraits and figure studies evince the somber tonalities of Whistler. After painting in Giverny with Guy Rose and other impressionists, by 1910 his palette had begun to brighten considerably.

MEMBER
American AA of Paris; Chicago Society of Artists; LA AA; Salmagundi Club; SWA; Calif PM. Exh: Paris Salon, 1901; Louisiana Purchase Expo (St Louis), 1904 (bronze medal); AIC, 1906 (solo); PPIE, 1915 (bronze medal); Calif. Art Club, 1920-30; LACMA, 1922, 1924 (prizes), 1929; Southwest Museum (LA), 1923 (grand prize); Stendahl Gallery (LA), 1923; San Diego FA Gallery, 1923, 1937 (solo); Painters of the West (LA), 1924; Pasadena Art Inst., 1925, 1931 (2nd prize), 1933 (1st prize); Pasadena Society of Artists, 1927; Pasadena Public Library, 1928; LA AA, 1937; GGIE, 1939; Calif. WC Society, 1940.

COLLECTIONS
Victoria & Albert Museum (London); AIC; LACMA; Muskegon (MI) Art Gallery; San Diego Museum; Watertown (NY) Public Library; Gardena High School; CSL; Pasadena Community Theatre; First Nat'l Bank of Pasadena (mural); Univ. Club (Pasadena); Irvine (CA) Museum; Women's Athletic Club (LA); Fleischer Museum (Scottsdale); Orange Co. (CA) Museum; Cathay Circle Theatre, LA (murals).
Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940" Who's Who in America 1918; Who's Who in California 1928; California Impressionism (Wm. Gerdts & Will South); American Art Annual 1933; Who's Who in American Art 1936-47; Artists of the American West (Samuels); Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs (Benezit, E); Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers (Fielding, Mantle); Southern California Artists (Nancy Moure); Plein Air Painters (Ruth Westphal); NY Times, 3-24-1949 (obituary). Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150).

Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton