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ED CLARK
(American, b. 1926)
Untitled, 1991
Acrylic on canvas
74 1/4 x 81 1/8”
Purchase 1995.2
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Interpretive Text
Untitled
Edward Clark was one of the few African-American pioneers of abstract painting in the postwar period. Born in New Orleans, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago before moving to Paris for most of the 1950s and some of the ‘60s. In 1969, he moved his primary studio to New York, though he continues to spend a part of each year in Paris. In addition to an affinity for jazz, he was inspired early on by gestural abstraction and, since 1966, has used a push broom to apply paint to large canvases placed on the floor. The broad sweep and visceral energy of the broom brush imparts an epic quality to Clark’s paintings, as if the markings were the result of a superhuman force of nature. Armed with a steadfast belief in the power of abstraction and an adroit sense of color, Clark aims to convey a sense of pure motion and light that supersedes illusionistic or scenic concerns.