Page 96 - index
P. 96
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THE FRICAN LEGACY instructed me to register at the Barnes Foundation so He, along with educator John Dewey, established
As I questioned him about learning to “see” art, he
a progressive art education method that included
that I might realize this objective. He talked about his the use of his famed art collection as examples for
own experiences there and gave me a bit of history about comparable analyses.
the Foundation’s importance to early African-American
Barnes, with his supposedly controversial nature,
artists who studied there between 1920 and 1951.
frequently found himself viewed negatively in the
Te carefully chosen fne art collection at the Barnes
media regarding his policy on determining admission
Foundation was the vehicle from which I was to learn.
to his art education program. It is reported that he
With each visit to Philadelphia, Clark would remind
allowed only those he and his staf considered “real
me to begin my studies. He was thrilled when I fnally
seekers” of art education rather than status seekers,
reported that I had kept my promise and had become a
pretentious participants and the like.
matriculant at the Foundation.
Some Philadelphia educators were concerned
According to Te Journal of Negro Education,
about his zealous crusade to reform art education
Volume 1, Winter 1982, and according to Clark’s
in Philadelphia schools and universities. His
recollections, he and three other Black artists became
achievements, his progressive programs that embraced
alumni of the Foundation and subsequently taught art
everyday people and his world-class art collection
on the university level.
often became of secondary consideration compared
Dr. Albert C. Barnes, after whom the Foundation was to the contentions that his ideology brewed in
named, amassed a vast collection of fne art paintings, academia and among the “well-to-do” on Philadelphia’s
drawings, African and Western sculpture and antique Main Line.
furniture. He designed the building to house his art.
Claude Clark, Sr., My (Evelyn’s) art appreciation study at the Barnes
at October Gallery.
Foundation was advocated by the late artist Claude Clark
(1915-2001), a transplanted Philadelphian (born in
Georgia) who later made his home in Oakland, California.
It was during the late 1980s that I began classes at the Barnes
Foundation, which is located on Philadelphia’s Main Line in
Merion. Clark himself had once been a student there.
After completing his education in the School District
of Philadelphia, Clark studied at the Philadelphia
Museum School of Art (now the University of the Arts) from
1935 to 1939, at Barnes Foundation from 1939 to 1944, at
Sacramento State University from 1955 to 1958, and at the
University of California at Berkeley from 1958 to 1962.
96 97
THE FRICAN LEGACY instructed me to register at the Barnes Foundation so He, along with educator John Dewey, established
As I questioned him about learning to “see” art, he
a progressive art education method that included
that I might realize this objective. He talked about his the use of his famed art collection as examples for
own experiences there and gave me a bit of history about comparable analyses.
the Foundation’s importance to early African-American
Barnes, with his supposedly controversial nature,
artists who studied there between 1920 and 1951.
frequently found himself viewed negatively in the
Te carefully chosen fne art collection at the Barnes
media regarding his policy on determining admission
Foundation was the vehicle from which I was to learn.
to his art education program. It is reported that he
With each visit to Philadelphia, Clark would remind
allowed only those he and his staf considered “real
me to begin my studies. He was thrilled when I fnally
seekers” of art education rather than status seekers,
reported that I had kept my promise and had become a
pretentious participants and the like.
matriculant at the Foundation.
Some Philadelphia educators were concerned
According to Te Journal of Negro Education,
about his zealous crusade to reform art education
Volume 1, Winter 1982, and according to Clark’s
in Philadelphia schools and universities. His
recollections, he and three other Black artists became
achievements, his progressive programs that embraced
alumni of the Foundation and subsequently taught art
everyday people and his world-class art collection
on the university level.
often became of secondary consideration compared
Dr. Albert C. Barnes, after whom the Foundation was to the contentions that his ideology brewed in
named, amassed a vast collection of fne art paintings, academia and among the “well-to-do” on Philadelphia’s
drawings, African and Western sculpture and antique Main Line.
furniture. He designed the building to house his art.
Claude Clark, Sr., My (Evelyn’s) art appreciation study at the Barnes
at October Gallery.
Foundation was advocated by the late artist Claude Clark
(1915-2001), a transplanted Philadelphian (born in
Georgia) who later made his home in Oakland, California.
It was during the late 1980s that I began classes at the Barnes
Foundation, which is located on Philadelphia’s Main Line in
Merion. Clark himself had once been a student there.
After completing his education in the School District
of Philadelphia, Clark studied at the Philadelphia
Museum School of Art (now the University of the Arts) from
1935 to 1939, at Barnes Foundation from 1939 to 1944, at
Sacramento State University from 1955 to 1958, and at the
University of California at Berkeley from 1958 to 1962.
96 97
