Ed Clark: Works for Sale, Upcoming Auctions & Past Results

Ed Clark

American  •  1926-2019

Biography

Born in pre-Civil Rights era New Orleans, Clark joined the Air Force at age 17 and served in Guam during World War II. Afterwards, he utilized the GI Bill by enrolling in the School of The Art Institute of Chicago and later the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. Perceiving that his race would impact the future of his career less in France than in the United States – he noted that “The French never put race on ID cards”– Clark decided to reside in Paris even after the expiration of his GI bill before settling in New York in the late 1950s.

Though associated with Abstract Expressionism, Ed Clark continuously and audaciously transformed his artistic language over a career spanning six decades. His experiments with color, form, and shaped canvas are a testament to his restless inventiveness, a quality inspired by the cultures of the many places he’s resided in and traveled to, including New York, Paris, Morocco, Brazil, Greece, Yucatan, Martinique, Nigeria, and China. From his figurative works to his egg-shaped abstract pieces, Clark has always imbued his art with a delicate balance of colorful energy and peaceful tranquility.

Insights

  • Clark won the Congressional Achievement Award in 1994. 

  • Clark's work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Modern, the Whitney Museum and the Brooklyn Museum, among others. 

  • Clark won the Award in Painting from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1972. 

“Art is not subject to political games; its importance elevates it above any racial difference...all men of talent, of noble spirit, can make it.”

Past Lots

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