Clark Greenwood Voorhees (1871 – 1933) was an American Impressionist and Tonalist landscape painter and one of the founders of the Old Lyme Art Colony.

Biography

The son of a stockbroker, Voorhees was born on May 29, 1871, in New York City. He was initially drawn to the sciences and earned degrees in Chemistry from Yale and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In 1894, Voorhees began to seriously pursue fine art (which had always been a hobby) when he enrolled in classes at the

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

. The following year, Voorhees enrolled at the Metropolitan School of Fine Art. He also studied with Irving Ramsey Wiles on Long Island and with Leonard Ochtman in Connecticut. In 1897, Voorhees traveled to Europe, studying with

Benjamin Constant Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Franco-Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed republican from 1795, he backed t ...

and J. P. Laurens at the Académie Julian in ParisBenezit Dictionary of Artists
/ref> and spending time in the French village of

Barbizon Barbizon () is a commune (town) in the Seine-et-Marne department in north-central France. It is located near the Fontainebleau Forest. Demographics The inhabitants are called ''Barbizonais''. Art history The Barbizon school of painters is nam ...

as well as in the Netherlands. Voorhees-SillLane

Voorhees first visited Old Lyme, Connecticut in 1893. In 1896, he returned with his mother and sister, who stayed at an informal boarding house run by

Florence Griswold Florence Ann Griswold (December 25, 1850 – December 6, 1937) was a resident of Old Lyme, Connecticut, United States who became the nucleus of the " Old Lyme Art Colony" in the early 20th century. Her home has since been made into the Florenc ...

. The Florence Griswold House (now the

Florence Griswold Museum The Florence Griswold Museum is an Art Museum at 96 Lyme Street in Old Lyme, Connecticut centered on the home of Florence Griswold (1850–1937), which was the center of the Old Lyme Art Colony, a main nexus of American Impressionism. The Museum i ...

) would eventually become the center of Old Lyme's artistic community and it is very likely that

Henry Ward Ranger Henry Ward Ranger (January 29, 1858 – November 7, 1916) was an American artist. Born in western New York State, he was a prominent landscape and marine painter, an important Tonalist, and the leader of the Old Lyme Art Colony. Ranger became a ...

, often described as the Old Lyme colony's founder, was introduced to both Old Lyme and the Griswold House through Voorhees. Stylistically, Voorhees was one of the Old Lyme artists who remained at least somewhat loyal to the Barbizon-derived, Tonalist style associated with Ranger even after the majority had adopted

Childe Hassam Frederick Childe Hassam (; October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressioni ...

's Impressionist style. Most of Voorhees's paintings are undated, but it appears that he gradually adopted a more Impressionistic approach later in life. He also experimented with

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

in the 1930s. Many of Voorhees's paintings depict Old Lyme prospects. Bermuda scenes are also common—beginning in 1919, Voorhees and his family wintered there. He also painted in Newport, Rhode Island and in Western Massachusetts (his wife was from Lenox). Vorhees exhibited along with other members of the Old Lyme Art Colony as well as at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

, the

Society of American Artists The Society of American Artists was an American artists group. It was formed in 1877 by artists who felt the National Academy of Design did not adequately meet their needs, and was too conservative. The group began meeting in 1874 at the home of ...

, the

American Watercolor Society The American Watercolor Society, founded in 1866, is a nonprofit membership organization devoted to the advancement of watercolor painting in the United States. Qualifications AWS judges the work of a painter before granting admission to the soc ...

, the Carnegie Institute, and the Art Institute of Chicago. He was awarded a bronze medal at the 1904 St. Louis Exposition and in 1905 received one of the National Academy's three Hallgarten Prizes, honoring the best three oil paintings produced in the United States by artists under the age of thirty-five. Voorhees-Garden

Examples of Voorhees's work are in the collections of the

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the

, and the Lyme Historical Society. Major exhibitions featuring Voorhees's work have included the Lyme Historical Society and Florence Griswold Museum's ''Clark G. Voorhees, 1871–1933'' (June 13 – August 30, 1981) and Hawthorne Fine Art's ''The Light Lies Softly: The Impressionist Art of Clark Greenwood Voorhees, 1871–1933'' (December 15, 2009 – February 27, 2010). He had a son, Clark Voorhees Jr. (1911-1980), who was also an artist, worked primarily in wood carving. His granddaughter,

Janet Fish Janet Fish (born May 18, 1938) is a contemporary American realist artist. Through oil painting, lithography, and screenprinting, she explores the interaction of light with everyday objects in the still life genre. Many of her paintings include ...

, is a still life painter with works in the permanent collection of many museums.

References

External links

Florence Griswold Museum: Clark Voorhees

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voorhees, Clark Greenwood 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters 1871 births 1933 deaths American people of Dutch descent American Impressionist painters Art Students League of New York alumni Columbia University alumni Académie Julian alumni Painters from New York City 19th-century American male artists 20th-century American male artists

Biography

References

Further reading

External links