225 South Street
Williamstown, MA 01267
U.S.A.
Tel: (413) 458-2303
Fax: (413) 458-2324
info@clarkart.edu
http://www.clarkart.edu

Located on a 140-acre landscape in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute is both art museum and research center, welcoming visitors year-round to experience its collections of European and American art and special exhibitions organized in collaboration with major national and international institutions. The Clark is home to exceptional examples of European and American painting and sculpture, master prints and drawings, English silver and porcelain, and early photographs. The museum is best known, however, for its extraordinary collection of 19th-century paintings. The Institute was founded in 1950 by Sterling Clark, who by then had collected art in Paris for four decades, following a distinguished career in the United States Army. His passion for collecting was shared by his wife Francine, whom he married in 1919. Since its conception, the Institute has had a dual mission as both a museum and a center for research and higher education.
 

Dutch Dialogues
(June 3, 2007 through September 3, 2007).
A series of "Dutch Dialogues" will be displayed in the Clark's permanent collection galleries in celebration of the arts and culture of The Netherlands during "NL: A Season of Dutch Arts in the Berkshires." Each pair or set of paintings will be linked by a unique "dialogue" between them and will allow visitors to compare the Dutch masterpieces to works in the Clark's collection.

The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings
(June 24, 2007 through September 16, 2007)
This exhibition, the first to focus on Claude Monet's mastery of drawing, brings together rarely seen pastels and drawings, accompanied by related oils, from international private and public collections. Featuring a body of work largely unknown to public and scholars alike, the exhibition will offer new documentation on Monet's working methods and will enhance the understanding of the role that pastels and drawing played in the course of his long career. The exhibition is organized by the Clark in association with the Royal Academy of Arts in London, where it opens on March 17 and continues through June 10 before coming to the Clark.

The Clark is currently moving forward with plans for several exhibitions organized or co-organized here and traveling elsewhere. They include:

Remington and the American West (working title)
Spring 2008

Like Breath on Glass: Painting Softly from James McNeill Whistler to Arthur B. Davies (working title)
Summer 2008
Traveling Fall 2008

The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute was recently awarded over $230,000 in federal and private support for an archives and records management program that will enable the Clark to better describe, house, and preserve the Clark's permanent records, the personal papers of Sterling Clark, and other important collections acquired by the Clark.

The Sterling and Francine Clark Papers, which cover the period 1912–1950 and total 83 linear feet, include correspondence, diaries, journals related to art purchases, records of early appraisals of works of art, receipts, and taxiphote stereographic glass plates. The Institutional Record of the Clark, for the period 1950–1994, includes historical materials related to the Clarks' decision to locate their collection in Williamstown; founding documents, such as incorporation papers, early board minutes, and engineering studies and architectural plans; and records that document a 50-year history of the Clark, including its governance, collections, exhibitions, and the development of the Clark Library and its research and academic program.

Properly housed and organized, the Clark archives will be important to museum studies scholars of the future, who may be interested in the historical, cultural, and social forces that shaped the highly personal collecting interests of Sterling and Francine Clark; the establishment of an internationally significant public art museum and research center in a remote area of western Massachusetts; and the transformation of a private art collection into an important cultural and educational resource for the year-round local community, seasonal visitors from throughout the world, and national and international scholars.

The Clark continues to make significant additions to its collections. Recent 19th century additions include:

Two Horses Fighting in a Stormy Landscape, c. 1828, by Eugène Delacroix
Oil on canvas, 13 7/8 by 17 1/2 inches

The Haymakers, c. 1895, by Camille Pissarro
Monotype printed in colors, 7 by 6 7/8 inches

Portraits of Charles Percier, Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine, and Claude-Louis Bernier, c. 1805, by Louis-Léopold Boilly
Black and white chalk on buff paper, image height 5 1/2 by 12 5/8 inches
Gift of David Jenness in honor of Arthur F. Jenness (Professor at Williams College, 1946--63), 2005

Clark Fellows Program

The Clark Fellows in residence for the spring semester are: Malcolm Bull (Oxford University); Darby English (University of Chicago); James Meyer (Emory University); Lowery Sims (The Studio Museum in Harlem); Carolyn Tate (Texas Tech University). For upcoming fellowship opportunities, contact the Research and Academic Program at 413-458-2303, ext. 260, or research@clarkart.edu.

What is Research in the Visual Arts?
April 27 and 28, 2007
The 2007 Clark Conference explores fundamental questions for all those working with visual art: What is research, why and how do we do it, and what place does it have in art-making and the understanding of art today? The Clark conference brings together historians, art historians, philosophers, and artists to discuss this topic. Cost is $30 ($20 per member, $15 per student, Williams College faculty and students free). Held 9 am to 5 pm both days. For information and registration call 413-458-0524.