Christopher Clark, Tampa, 1944. Pastel, 13 by 17 inches.
Christopher Clark a native Floridian, born in Quincy, just west of Tallahassee, spent years working in Key West and Tampa. In Key West Clark ran the Island City School of Art with William Henry. For a time he lived on a houseboat, the Li-Po. Clark painted murals for the Radio City Music Hall in New York, murals for the Surf Club in Miami, and the Charles Baker home in Coconut Grove.
From 1945 to 1946 Clark was an art instructor at the Ringling School of Art where he headed the life and portrait departments. He painted portraits of Tampan’s, including Caro Murphy, Mrs. S. L. Flom, Mrs. C.A. Rudisill, Mr. and Mrs. Eliot Fletcher, Mrs. Nelson Mason, Mrs. Charles M.Gray and Mrs. George P. Tourtellot. His art was featured in the Saturday Evening Post and Forbes Magazine. He won prizes at the Florida State Fair, Florida Federation of Art exhibits, and the Tampa Art Institute. A brief review of Clark’s painting in the 1942 Florida Federation of Art circuit appeared in the Daytona Evening News, March 11, 1942, “Christopher Clark catches the eye with his lively, ‘Miami Beach Look’ done with a strong resemblance to modernists, Thomas Hart Benton and Curry, especially in the broad effect of his whirling bathers.”
Born: June 21, 1903, Quincy, Florida.
Education: University of Florida; Piedmont College; Art Students League, NYC; with Kenneth Hayes Miller.
Membership: Sarasota Art Association; Tampa Art Institute; Art Club of St. Petersburg; Florida Federation of Art; Florida Gulf Coast Artists Group; Ringling School of Art.
Exhibits: Florida Federation of Art, December 1941, Tampa, Miami Beach Look prize, best figure study; Clearwater Art Museum, November 1942, Florida Beach Jook; Florida Federation of Art, Palm Beach 1942, grand prize, S. H. Kress Award, The Crapshooters; Florida Federation of Art, 15th Annual Exhibit, March 1943, Clearwater Art Museum, Bayou Bay, Everglades Cowboy, Ethel at Breakfast; Florida Federation of Art, Outstanding Art Work by Artists, Jacksonville, 1944, sponsored by Arts Exhibition Club and Art Department of Woman’s Club, oil, Mrs. Devereaux; Florida Gulf Coast Artists Group, nation wide circuit, Miami to Wisconsin, Newark, San Francisco, Syracuse, 1944; Sarasota Art Association, Members Annual Exhibit, March 1945, pastel portrait, Pompeia (Head of a young man); Key West, Casa Marina Hotel, March 4, 1948; Florida State Fair, Tampa, February 1952, judge; Tampa Art Institute, January-February 1953, portrait exhibit; Contemporary Arts Gallery, Pinellas Park, March 1954, figures and portraits; Florida Federation of Art Annual, November 1954, 2nd prize, Study; Florida Federation of Art Annual, 1955, 1st prize, Portrait of a Young Poet; Art Club of St. Petersburg, January 1956, 1st prize, modern, Prodigal Son; Clearwater Art Group, 7th Annual Juried Show, Clearwater Chamber of Commerce, March 1956, honorable mention, Prodigal Son; Art Club of St. Petersburg, Members’ Jury Show, January 1957, honorable mention, traditional, Student; Tampa Art Institute, best oil, Bayou Bay; Contemporary Arts Gallery, Pinellas Park,1 955, September 1959, Aegean Boy; Florida State Fair, Tampa, work exhibited between 1956-1962; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Directory: Listed in the Tampa City Directory 1943 and 1952 as an artist with studio at 4807 Bayshore Blvd in 1943 and 215 1/2 Eagle in 1952.
