Kate Freeman Clark (Holly Springs/Mississippi, 1875-1957)
Kate Freeman Clark was the daughter of Edward Clark and Cary Freeman Clark, a descendant of the prominent Walthall family of Holly Springs.
Exploring the art section of the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago played a role in Kate’s 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 oil painting classes under William Merritt Chase, who 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 Chase’s outdoor painting classes at Shinnecock Hills, Long Island. Her works exhibited a little of Chase’s influence but she soon developed into 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, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the National Academy of Design and The New York School of Art.
William Merritt Chase’s death in 1916 and the changing mode of art, introduced by the New York Armory Show of Cubist paintings in 1913, took the heart out of her career, and after losing her grandmother in 1919 and her mother’s passing 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.
