Papers of Sterling and Francine Clark: Images
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The materials in the Images of Robert Sterling and Francine Clark include 273 photographic negatives, 275 photographic prints, 250 black-and-white glass slides for the stereodrome (a stereodrome viewer is included in CAI ARC 2006.01.06, the Realia series), four photo albums documenting collections, and a movie of Clark's horse, Never Say Die, winning the Epsom Derby.
The stereographic materials consist of 250 negatives, 250 slides made from them, and 204 single-view prints in various sizes made from the negatives. Slides measure 4 3/16 x 1 11/16 inches or 45mm x 107 mm. The slides are stereo transparencies in the French Taxiphote format, rarely found outside Europe. Almost all of these images show horses owned or considered for ownership by RSC. Some identified as taken at Saratoga include such famous stallions as Man O'War and War Admiral; others are identified as taken in Canada. Most locations are unknown, but because many of the horses are identified by name and are known to have belonged to RSC, they were probably taken in Kentucky and Virginia. Many of the pictures show full-body profiles of a single horse with a groom; some show mares and their foals. A few of these pictures show unidentified people.
Four photograph albums document the Clarks' collection of silver and porcelain. One album (10½ x 12 x 1¼ inches) documenting a silver collection is missing a large proportion of its photographs, which might have been moved to a second album (12½ x 12½ x 4½ inches), also documenting silver. A third album (13 x 12 x 4 inches) documenting silver is identified on the spine as "Plate." The fourth album (12½ x 12½ x 3 inches) is filled with photographs of the Clarks' collection of porcelain.
Of the approximately 100 remaining items, 30 are passport or carte d'identite photos of RSC and Francine; ten are of the interior of RSC's mother’s apartment on 89th St. in Manhattan; four are of Williams College; three are of RSC and an unidentified woman on horseback in Arizona; five were taken in the Cooperstown area; seven are removed from a letter from Robert H. Lewis and seem to document a picnic; and 14 others, also removed from correspondence, document racetracks, houses, and horses. There are six large, matted prints of two portraits of the horse Galatea. Five items are x-rays either of RSC's cranium or of Francine’s teeth. The remaining items consist of snapshots and studio portraits, mostly unidentified.
Dates
- 1899 - 1953
- Majority of material found within 1935 - 1945
Restrictions on Access
This material is open for research.
Biographical Note
Born in 1877, Robert Sterling Clark, along with his three brothers, was heir to the Singer sewing machine fortune. Their father, Alfred Corning Clark, was the son of Edward Cabot Clark, Isaac Singer's business partner. RSC attended Yale University and graduated in 1899 with a degree in engineering. He joined the army and his service during the Boxer Rebellion earned him the commission of first lieutenant. In 1908, RSC undertook an expedition to the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in a remote area of northern China. He intended to carry out ethnographic and zoological research, as well as conduct surveys and create maps. His partner in this undertaking was Arthur de Carle Sowerby. Sowerby, in addition to being a naturalist, explorer, artist and editor, collected specimens for the British Museum and other museums of natural history in the United States and China. The expedition came to an abrupt end when Hazrat Ali, their translator and surveyor, was murdered.
Shortly thereafter, RSC moved to Paris. In 1909 he inherited various pieces of art from his family and these pieces became the foundation of the collection he was to build over the ensuing decades. He made his first purchases in 1912 and was initially attracted primarily to Dutch, Flemish and Italian old masters. Soon, his interests expanded to include silver, prints and drawings, rare books, and more contemporary artists such as Renoir, Degas, Sargent and Homer.
During this time RSC met Francine Clary. Formerly an actress with the Comedie Francaise, Francine was the mother of a daughter, Viviane Modzelewska. Francine and RSC began seeing one another in 1910, but didn’t marry until 1919. Their relationship was a source of tension with RSC’s family and eventually led to a rift between him and his brother, Stephen. Stephen, the youngest of the Clark brothers, had shouldered the daily administration of the family's fortunes. RSC felt that he was at a disadvantage because of the way the Singer trusts were constructed. Should something befall RSC, the money would pass back into the Clark family rather than to Francine and her daughter. When he was unable to resolve the issue within the family, he and Stephen had a falling out that would never be mended and RSC sued unsuccessfully in court to break up the trusts.
RSC and Francine were partners in assembling the collections that would eventually be housed at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, visiting galleries and dealers together. Another keen interest was horse breeding. RSC owned large operations that bred, raised and trained racehorses, first in Belgium and then in Virginia. In 1951, his horse, Never Say Die, won the Epsom Derby, the first American-bred horse ever to do so.
After considering various options for the eventual disposition of their artworks and objects, including donation to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and founding a museum in New York City, RSC and Francine decided to locate their collections in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Beginning in 1950 and continuing through RSC’s death late in 1956, their lives were focused on building the Institute, both physically and administratively.
Extent
7.5 Linear feet (17 boxes, 3 objects)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Images of Robert Sterling and Francine Clark is primarily comprised of stereodrome (Taxiphote) negatives: in addition to the negatives themselves, the collection includes black-and-white glass slides and prints in various sizes. Other materials include a film; miscellaneous snapshots and studio portraits; and four photograph albums. The principal subjects are horses and RSC's silver and porcelain collections.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
For the most part, materials are in good condition. Photographs in three albums have been mounted on paper with glue but appear to be in good condition. The stereodrome black-and-white slides are fragile and should be exposed to minimal handling. Future conservation or reprocessing might include inserting a coroplast separator between each black-and-white stereoscopic glass slide which would be sturdier and more protective than the current archival paper sheaths in which they are wrapped. [This recommendation comes from the conservator at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY.]
Acquisition Information
The glass slides and many of the photographs were accessioned from the Director’s vault. Photos found among the correspondence were removed, cross-referenced, and placed in the Images series. Other black-and-white photographs and negatives were found among materials in the former office of David Brooke.
Location of Originals
This series is stored in the Director's vault.
Processing Information
Items in the Images series were rehoused and arranged between December 2006 and April 2007 by Anne Just and Alex Grimley, archives interns. Items are stored in archival boxes and are primarily grouped by size, as original order is unclear due to extensive handling before they were accessioned into the archives. Black-and-white stereographic glass slides are arranged in archival boxes in the order in which they were found. Each slide is housed in a wrapper made of archival paper. Three of four photograph albums have been disbound and are stored in archival boxes, with leaves separated by buffered tissue. Their bindings, which were already in deteriorating condition, were too tight to allow for insertion of buffered tissue in place. The fourth album was in good condition with room for buffered tissue insertions between photographs and so was left undisturbed
- Architecture, Domestic -- New York (State)
- Black-and-white negatives
- Black-and-white photographs
- Black-and-white slides
- Horse racing
- Horses
- Horses -- Breeding
- Identification photographs
- Motion pictures (Visual works)
- Passport photographs
- Photograph albums
- Photographic negatives
- Photographic prints
- Porcelain
- Porcelain Collectors and collecting
- Race horses
- Radiographs
- Silver bowls
- Silver coffeepots
- Silver plated ware
- Silver saltcellars
- Silver servers
- Silver sugar bowls
- Silverwork
- Tintypes
- Upperville (Va.)
- Virginia -- History
- Title
- A Guide to the Papers of Sterling and Francine Clark
- Subtitle
- Images
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Inventory prepared by Lacy Schutz
- Date
- March 31, 2009
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Archives Repository