Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-9-2020
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Art and Art History
First Advisor
Kris Belden-Adams
Second Advisor
Louise Arizzoli
Third Advisor
Virginia Chavis
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
This paper explores the art of Holly Springs, Mississippi, painter Kate Freeman Clark, especially in association with the work of her teacher William Merritt Chase. Much of this paper is based on two extensive biographies: Cynthia Grant Tucker’s Kate Freeman Clark: A Painter Rediscovered, and Carolyn J. Brown’s The Artist’s Sketch: A Biography of Painter Kate Freeman Clark. Using a number of object studies, this paper explores the development of Clark’s work under the tutelage of Chase, highlighting similarities and differences that lead to the conclusion that Clark had a very real talent that she seemed reluctant to claim. This reluctance is also explored by considering what it meant to be an upper-class, Southern female artist in the early-20th century. Thus, I seek to understand the pressures Clark faced as she balanced maintaining the correct level of respectability as a single woman with her desire to create and produce magnificent art. By surveying Clark’s privileged upbringing in Holly Springs, Mississippi and New York City, her artwork produced under the tutelage of William Merritt Chase, and her eventual return to Holly Springs, I seek to also understand why she ultimately gave up her craft.
Recommended Citation
Moorman, Grace, "Talent Against Tradition: The Art and Life of Kate Freeman Clark" (2020). Honors Theses. 1355.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1355
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