Clark, Robert Sterling, 1877-1956

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role

Collector Patron

dates

1877-1956

city

Williamstown

state

MA

other cities

Cooperstown, NY; New York, NY; Paris, France; Hong Kong, China;

sex

M

historical notes

Art collector, traveler, and racehorse breeder.
An heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune, he was the grandson of Edward Clark, the business partner of Isaac Singer. Robert studied at Yale, served in the army until 1905, and led a scientific expedition to China (1908–9).

In 1911 he settled in Paris as an art collector, in 1919 marrying Francine Clary (1876–1960), born in France; little is known of her early life. The Clarks moved to New York City in 1949, settling in Williamstown, MA, where they built up a collection of Old Master and 19th-c American paintings.
In 1955 they established the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, and both are buried beneath the front steps of the original marble building.

Clark's collection included French Impressionist masterpieces, including thirty-eight Renoirs, and works by such American artists as Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Frederic Remington, and Mary Cassatt.

decades
of activity

1910-1920
1920-1930
1930-1940
1940-1950
1950-1960

updated

10/31/2024 13:33:17

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Archives/Repository	Collection Title	Collection Details
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library and Archives	Sterling and Francine Clark Papers	see details...
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library and Archives	Institutional Records of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute	see details...
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Library and Archives	Institutional Oral Histories, 1978-1999 (bulk 1998-1999)	see details...