Walter Leighton Clark (1859–1935) was an American businessman, inventor, and artist based in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and New York City.

Biography

Among other achievements, in 1923 he founded with

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

the

Grand Central Art Galleries The Grand Central Art Galleries were the exhibition and administrative space of the nonprofit Painters and Sculptors Gallery Association, an artists' cooperative established in 1922 by Walter Leighton Clark together with John Singer Sargent, Ed ...

, located within New York City's

Grand Central Terminal Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus ...

, to offer notable American artists the opportunity to exhibit their work in the United States without having to send it abroad. Together with sculptor

Daniel Chester French Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, best known for his 1874 sculpture ''The Minute Man'' in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monume ...

and Dr. Austen Fox Riggs, Clark also played a central role in the founding of the

Berkshire Theatre Festival The Berkshire Theatre Festival is one of the oldest professional performing arts venues in the Berkshires, celebrating its 80th anniversary season in 2008. History The main building of the Berkshire Theatre Festival was originally the Stockbridge ...

in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. When the Stockbridge Casino, designed by

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect. He was also a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms. He designed many houses for the rich, in additio ...

in 1887, fell into disuse, Clark, French, and Riggs purchased the building and had it moved to its current location. After renovations, the Berkshire Playhouse opened in 1928, and as the Berkshire Theatre Festival continues to be one of the region's centers of cultural life. Raised a Quaker, Clark kept the telltale pronouns of that faith, using "thee," "thy" and "thou" even after decades of life in Manhattan and overseas. His autobiography, "Leaves From an Artist's Memory," was published posthumously in 1937, reportedly having been dictated to his sister Emma Killé Clark, from his sick-bed. According to family oral history, she could be heard saying "Thee can't say that!" to him from time to time during the dictation. It is assumed he was telling stories that he shouldn't have, and the finished work has a scrubbed feeling that might be explained by this. "Leaves" is essentially an account of Clark's boyhood adventures and subsequent rise from a machine-shop apprentice to industrialist and world traveler. In the book Clark detailed his friendships with

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...

Charles Dana Gibson Charles Dana Gibson (September 14, 1867 – December 23, 1944) was an American illustrator. He was best known for his creation of the Gibson Girl, an iconic representation of the beautiful and independent Euro-American woman at the turn of the ...

Dame Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry, (27 February 184721 July 1928), was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and tour ...

George Westinghouse George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age of ...

Julius Rosenwald Julius Rosenwald (August 12, 1862 – January 6, 1932) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for establishing the Rosenwald Fund, which donated millions in ...

James A. Farrell James Augustine Farrell Sr. (February 15, 1863 – March 28, 1943) was president of US Steel from 1911 to 1932. A major business figure of his era, Farrell expanded US Steel by a factor of five during his presidency, turning it into America's f ...

George Pullman George Mortimer Pullman (March 3, 1831 – October 19, 1897) was an American engineer and industrialist. He designed and manufactured the Pullman sleeping car and founded a company town, Pullman, for the workers who manufactured it. This ulti ...

, Thomas Hart Benton, and many others. During his time in Stockbridge he also studied sculpture with

, and in 1916 acted as pallbearer for the funeral of

Alexander Wilson Drake Alexander Wilson Drake (1843–1916) was an American artist, collector and critic. Biography Drake was born near Westfield, New Jersey, Westfield, New Jersey., the son of Isaac Payne Drake (1818–1900) and Charlotte Osborne Drake (1817–190 ...

. Clark died in Stockbridge, Massachusetts in 1935. He was staying at his sister's house, "The Roost," at the time, and was buried in Stockbridge Cemetery. His stone is engraved with the words of

Edward Everett Hale Edward Everett Hale (April 3, 1822 – June 10, 1909) was an American author, historian, and Unitarian minister, best known for his writings such as " The Man Without a Country", published in '' Atlantic Monthly'', in support of the Union ...

: "Look up and not down; Look forward and not back; Look out and not in; And lend a hand."

Clark's collection

Clark collection sold

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

clipping from May 13, 1936 details the sale of the estate of Walter Leighton Clark. Items sold included two paintings: "Salome Receiving the Head of John the Baptist" by

Bernardino Luini Bernardino Luini (c. 1480/82 – June 1532) was a north Italian painter from Leonardo's circle during the High Renaissance. Both Luini and Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio were said to have worked with Leonardo directly; he was described as having ...

, sold for $1000, and Sir Anthony

Van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh ...

's "Portrait of Marten Rijckaert", sold for $720. The latter currently resides in the

Prado Museum The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

in Madrid, Spain.

Recent sales

The most recent sale of his work was

The Pooch ''The Pooch'' is a 1932 ''Our Gang'' short comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. It was the 115th (27th talking) ''Our Gang'' short that was released. Plot The film follows cheerful vagrant Stymie and the younger Spanky as they trek thro ...

sold by Christie's in New York in June 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Walter Leighton 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters 1859 births 1935 deaths American businesspeople 20th-century American inventors 20th-century American sculptors 19th-century American sculptors 19th-century American male artists American male sculptors 20th-century American male artists