CLAPP, William. Carmel Valley
Item #8095
15"x18"; oil on board; signed. William Clapp, b. in Canada 1879, d. 1954. At the age of six his family moved to Oakland; in 1900 he returned to Montreal to study with William Brymner for four years, then went on to continue his education in Paris at Academies Julian, Colarossi, and Grande Chaumiere. On his return to Canada, he was chosen as a member of the Royal Canadian Art Academy and exhibited at the NAD, Carnegie Institute, and PAFA. When he returned to Oakland in 1917 he became a director and curator of the Oakland Art Gallery. Clapp was part of the famed "Society of Six", a group of talented California colorists including Selden Connor Gile, Maurice Logan, William Clapp, August Gay, Bernard Von Eichman, and Louis Siegriest. These six, according to William Gerdts' book American Impressionism, may have "constituted the most important modernist development that occurred in this country during the 1920's." Their artwork is considered avant guard. The California Six aspired to reject convention and express their own visions, rather than the classical California styled artists. Clapp's early works resembled the Impressionist style of Renoir, while his later works reflected the Pointillist style of Seurat. He was a member of several clubs including the California Art Club, Montreal Art Club, and the Society of Six. [Hughes]. . |
