Lot 899: Kate Freeman Clark (American/Mississippi,

Kate Freeman Clark (American/Mississippi, 1875-1957) "Tree by a Small Stream, Shinnecock Hills", ca. 1896, oil on canvas, signed lower right "Freeman Clark", with an oil sketch on the reverse of an autumnal landscape, 16-1/4" x 20-1/4". Presented in a beaded giltwood frame. Provenance: Kate Freeman Clark Gallery, Holly Springs, Mississippi; private collector, Holly Springs, Mississippi. Reference: Kathleen McClain Jenkins, "Summers of 96 - Shinnecock Revisited: The Inspiration of Kate Freeman Clark by William Merritt Chase", Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Mississippi, 1996; Cynthia Grant Tucker, "Kate Freeman Clark: A Painter Rediscovered", University Press of Mississippi, 1981. Note: Kate Freeman Clark was the daughter of Vicksburg attorney and Cary Freeman Clark, a descendant of the politically prominent Walthall family of Holly Springs. After her father's death in 1885, Kate and her mother lived in the Walthall family home, known as the "Freeman Place". In 1891, Cary Freeman Clark enrolled her daughter in the Gardiner Institute, a finishing school for girls, in order to broaden Kate's educational prospects. Kate's exploration of the art section of the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago played a role in her decision to pursue a career as an artist. She enrolled in the Arts Students League in New York where she studied under John H. Twachtman, attended watercolor classes taught by Irving Wiles and was instructed in painting by William Merritt Chase. Chase would play an important role in her development as as an artist; in 1896, for the first of six consecutive summers, Kate Freeman Clark attended his outdoor painting classes at Shinnecock Hills, Long Island. The location was perfect for an outdoor art school where the focus was "plein-air" painting, a term made famous by the French Barbizon painters of the mid-19th century. Her works exhibited some of Chase's influence but she soon developed her own style of bold brush strokes while maintaining a solidity of form and a skillful subtle use of color and light. The Shinnecock years were her most productive and happiest as she was one of Chase's favorite students. At the turn of the century, Clark began submitting her work to important exhibitions using the name "Freeman Clark" in order to hide her gender. For a period of over twenty years Clark had many works accepted into prestigious shows, including The Corcoran Gallery, The Carnegie Institute, The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, The National Academy of Design and The New York School of Art. Her career was stunted by the death of William Merritt Chase in 1916 and the changing mode of art, as exemplified by the New York Armory Show of Cubist paintings in 1913. After the death of her grandmother in 1919 and her mother's in 1922, Kate Freeman Clark decided to give up painting and return to the Walthall home in Mississippi. Ms. Clark bequeathed to the city of Holly Springs, Mississippi, her family home, her entire collection of paintings and funds to build a museum, known today as The Kate Freeman Clark Gallery. It is important to note that Ms. Clark never sold any of her paintings. This is a rare opportunity to own a work by one of the few important female American Impressionist painters. New Orleans Auction Galleries would like to thank Mrs. Bea Green of the Kate Freeman Clark Art Gallery, Holly Springs, Mississippi for her assistance.