Claude Clark papers

The Claude Clark papers document the life and work of Clark, an African American painter, printmaker, and educator active from the 1940s through the 1990s. The collection dating from circa 1935 to 2001 consists of correspondence, exhibition catalogs and invitations, teaching materials, writings, photographs, and moving image formats. The earliest documents are reproductions of family photographs and Clark’s contributions to The Wissahickson, the school magazine at Roxborough High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The photographs, in the form of reprints and color reproductions, include those of the Clark family from the 1920s and 1930s after their move to Pennsylvania; Claude Clark working for the WPA and at Talladega College during the 1940s and 1950s; Clark’s older brother and studio photographer John Henry Clark Jr. and his models; as well as Clark with family and fellow artists, including Selma Burke, Aaron Douglas, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence, Lois Mailou Jones, Charles White, Irene Clark, Elton Fax, Ruth Waddy, David C. Driskell, and others, from the 1950s-1990s. Exhibition programs and catalogues date from 1947 to 1991, while newspaper and magazine clippings about Clark date from 1944 to 2000. Also present are various essays and writings by Clark. Of significance is a bound copy of the booklet produced by Clark in 1970 while a painter and instructor in African and Afro-American Art at Merritt College in Oakland, California. The work is entitled “A Black Art Perspective: A Black Teacher’s Guide to a Black Visual Art Curriculum” and includes drawings by Clark’s son, Claude Lockhart Clark. Also present is an undated collection compiled by Clark’s wife, Daima M. Clark, and entitled “African and African American Art, Essays by Claude and Claude Lockhart Clark, Father and Son”. A series of DVDs contain various interviews with Claude Clark. Prominent within the collection is correspondence between Clark and fellow artists, as well as materials on various artists received and collected by Clark. Correspondence dates from 1942 to 2000 and includes incoming correspondence from: Romare Bearden (1968-1973), Julius Bloch (1949), Elizabeth Catlett (1974-1976), Irene Clark (undated), Allan Crite (1968-1971), Aaron Douglas (1951), David C. Driskell (1982), Elton Fax (1968-1971), Reggie Gammon (1972), John Harris (1968), Palmer Hayden (1968-1971), Humbert Howard (1969), Lois Mailou Jones (1968-1972), Suda Minoru (1987), Paul Keene (1968-1969), Jacob Lawrence (1968-1994), Samella Lewis (1990), Alain Locke (1942-1948), David Mora (1976), Norma Morgan (1971), William Pajaud (1968-1969), Regina Perry (1972), Stephanie Pougue (1972-1973), James Porter (1969), Van Slater (1968-1969), Franklin Watkins (1946), Charles White (1967-1987), and Ellis Wilson (1968-1970). Collected materials include those for John Biggers, Sarah Fabio, Oliver Jackson, Horace Pippin, and Alma Thomas. Also present is a 1940 letter from Alain Locke to Effie Lockhart (later Daima Clark) and documents related to Daima’s work with the Association of Africans and African-Americans.