Painter, illustrator, muralist. Alson Clark was born in Chicago, IL on May 25, 1876. At age fourteen Clark enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago, continued in New York under William M. Chase and the Art Students League, then on to Paris. In 1899 he studied at Academie Julian, the Whistler School and with Simon, Cottet, Merson and Mucha. He returned to the United States in 1901 and established a studio in Watertown, New York. Clark then went back to Chicago where in 1903 a successful exhibition allowed for several years of European and Canadian travels. During the war, he was an aerial photographer. He settled in California in 1919 and along with Guy Rose formed the teaching faculty of Pasadena’s Stickney Art School. Alson Clark is one of the most renowned Impressionists of Southern California.

Member: American Artists Association of Paris; Chicago Society of Artists; Chicago Cliff Dwellers; Allied Artists of America; Southern California Print Makers; Pasadena Society of Western Artists; Laguna Beach Art Club; California Art Club; Salmagundi Club.

Awards: Bronze medal, St. Louis Exposition, 1904; Cahn prize, Art Institute of Chicago, 1906; gold medal, Panama Pacific International Exhibition, 1915; Grand prize, Southwest Museum, 1923; Huntington prize, 1924; Second prize, Pasadena Art Institute, 1931, first prize, 1933.

Works Held: Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Art Institute Chicago; Los Angeles County Museum; Muskegon (MI) Art Gallery; San Diego Museum of Art; Fleischer Museum; Irvine Museum; State Library Sacramento, Ca.; Watertown Public Library,NY; Muskeegon (MI) Art Gallery; Addison Gallery of American Art

(Biography courtesy Hughes, Edan Milton, "Artists in California: 1786-1940," San Francisco: Hughes Publishing Company, 1989.)