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Marc Clark
Clark in 2016
Born(1923-10-20)20 October 1923
Surrey, England
Died12 September 2021(2021-09-12) (aged 97)
Australia
Sir Edmund Barton, outside Barton Offices, Canberra
Governor Bligh, Bligh & Barney Reserve, The Rocks

Marc Clark (20 October 1923 – 12 September 2021) was a British-born Australian academic, sculptor and printmaker.[1][2]

Clark's sculptures can be found in parks in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra in Australia and in Tonga.

Early life

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Marc Clark was born in Surrey, England in October 1923. At age 14, he enrolled in the Sydney Cooper School of Art in Canterbury, England, where he studied for four years.

During World War II, Clark served with the 9th Queens' Royal Lancers of the British Army in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Austria.[3] In 1948, he enrolled in the Royal College of Art (RCA). In 1951, Clark received a one-year travelling Scholarship from the RCA, which he spent in France.

Teaching

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After graduation from RCA, Clark lectured at the Watford College of the Arts from 1953 to 1962. He then moved to Australia, when he taught basic design at the Caulfield Institute of Technology.[4] After six months, Clark was appointed Master of Drawing at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School.[5][4] Clark introduced Clay Portraiture and lectured in Human Anatomy.[6]

When the new Victorian College of the Arts introduced a school of sculpture, Clark was appointed Senior Lecturer.[7] During his decades at the college, he frequently served as Dean of the Art School.

Clark retired from the college in 1984 and moved to Queensland.[8] He continued to work as a Visiting Lecturer at several schools, including Dandenong TAFE, Melbourne University, Hervey Bay Senior College, and Deakin University over various periods. He retired from lecturing in 2007.

Work

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Sasha Grishin said about Clark:

"A major preoccupation with his art has been with the notion of timelessness, an art which more that commemorate an individual person's ego or freeze an historical event in time."[3]

After finishing his studies at RCA, Clark produced sculptures including Peter Cheyney's hands and a death mask of Evan Walters.

Clark's monumental works in Australian parks and gardens[7] include the Sculpture of Captain James Cook[9] in Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1971 he was commissioned by the Government of Tonga to create a statue of Queen Sālote Tupou III. This is located at Nukuʻalofa, Tonga.[7]

A statue Edmund Barton[10] located at Barton House, in Canberra, was the next major work completed by Clark in 1981. In 1983 Clark contributed a cast of the 'Eternal Flame' to the Rats of Tobruk Memorial[11] in Canberra.

From 1985 to 1987 Clark was commissioned to provide three bronze sculptures.

Clark's works in the Australian Federal Parliament House Art Collection include 'Alpha and Omega', 'Ancient Sites' and 'Monument to a Hero II[17][18]'.

Lenton Parr commented,

"Marc Clark is widely acknowledged to be a very accomplished and versatile sculptor who has created with equal assurance a succession of commissioned memorial works on a monumental scale and a large number of other sculptures more personally conceived and motivated by his own powers of observation and invention."[19]

Clark's abstract works form a human relationship to figurative expression through the portrayal of personal and human elements in geometrical forms. The bronze sculpture Stairway to Nowhere (Now in Queensland Art gallery collection) represents his own experience of the result of bombing in WW2 where functional buildings were transformed into symbols of futility. (Dr Sasha Grishin)[3]

Personal life

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Clark married his wife, Waltraud, in Melbourne, Australia in 1983.[8]

He died on 12 September 2021, at the age of 97.[20]

Further reading

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  • Drawings etc. Published in Transatlantic Review (1959–77), USA, 1960.
  • Wrecks and Reputations, Don Charlwood. ISBN 978-0-207-13065-6, 1978.
  • Encyclopaedia of Australian Art, Volume No. 1, Pages 202, 203, Alan McCulloch, ISBN 9780522853179, 1984.
  • Works of Art in Canberra A.C.T Volume 2. National Capital Development Committee, ISBN 0642099014, 1985.
  • Sculpture Mildura, by Graham Sturgeon, 1986, ISBN 0959862196.
  • Artists Print Making Statement – http://www.castlemainegallery.com/Exhibitions/Archive/MarcClark/clark.html

References

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  1. ^ Scarlet, Ken (1980). Australian Sculptures. Nelson. pp. 106, 107. ISBN 0170052923.
  2. ^ Germaine, Max (1984). Artists and Galleries of Australia and New Zealand. Boolarong. p. 109. ISBN 0908175876.
  3. ^ a b c Grishin, Sasha (1993). "Catalyst of Forms (26)". Art International: 56–59.
  4. ^ a b Pascoe, Joseph (2000). Creating the Victorian College of the Arts. Macmillan Education AU. p. 95. ISBN 9780958574396.
  5. ^ Westbrook, Eric (1968). Birth of a Gallery. Macmillan. p. 79.
  6. ^ Sturgeon, Graeme (1978). Development of Australian Sculpture from 1788–1975. Thames & Hudson Australia Pty, Limited. p. 201. ISBN 978-0500271162.
  7. ^ a b c Men of Achievement. International Biographical Centre. 1984. p. 198. ISBN 0-900332-74-3.
  8. ^ a b Turner, Tonya (11–17 March 2020). "Maker's mark". Brisbane News. 1266: 8–10.
  9. ^ Design, UBC Web. "Captain James Cook | Monument Australia". monumentaustralia.org.au. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  10. ^ Bill, Pedersen. "Edmund Barton statue outside Barton Offices, corner of Kings Avenue and Macquarie Street, Barton". images.act.gov.au. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  11. ^ Design, UBC Web. "Rats of Tobruk Memorial | Monument Australia". monumentaustralia.org.au. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  12. ^ Flinders, Mathew (1987). "Snapper Point".
  13. ^ Design, UBC Web. "Captain William Bligh | Monument Australia". monumentaustralia.org.au. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  14. ^ Lumley, Ann (1 January 1990). Sydney's Sculpture. Longman Cheshire. ISBN 9780582868205.
  15. ^ von Mueller, Ferdinand. "Melbourne Sculptures". Melbourne Sculptures.
  16. ^ Centre. "Search – Encyclopedia of Australian Science". eoas.info. The University of Melbourne Scholarship Research. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  17. ^ Viellers, Renee (17 December 2009). "Barnaby Joyce blasts Parliament art sculptures". Monument to a Hero II – via Courier Mail, Brisbane.
  18. ^ Expressing Australia, Art in Parliament House. Canberra [A.C.T.] Joint House Department of Parliament House. 1993. pp. 106, 107. ISBN 0642195218.
  19. ^ Clark, Biography, Marc (2004). Another Colonial Boy. Publishing, QLD. pp. Back Cover. ISBN 1-876344-31-8.
  20. ^ NGV: Marc Clark profile
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