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Artists' EstatesHenry St. Clair | Melville Stark | C. Robert Perrin Henry St. Clair (French, 1899-1990)
St. Clair was a postimpressionist who is now beginning to be recognized as one of the fine artists of French coastal life in Normandy. His picturesque paintings of the beaches of Normandy include colorful scenes of families and friends in period costume in charming seaside places such as Deuville, Honfleur, and Trouville. Henry St. Clair's paintings draw the viewer into pleasant world that provides one with the same perspective as the subjects in the paintings, typically looking out over the warm sand and bright sea. St. Clair's preferred medium was oil on painter's board, which contributes to the uniqueness of his style. The bulk of his oeuvre was completed between 1920-1970 with a four year disruption between 1941-45 because of the German occupation of France. His art was inspired by the colors and gaiety of Raoul Dufy (1877-1953), and he was a student of the art of Eugene Boudin (1824-1898). St. Clair worked in a studio with artists in Honfleur, including Raoul Dufy (1877-1953, Andre Hamburg (1909-1999), Fernand Herbo (1905-1995), and Jacques Bouyssou (1925-1997). Melville Stark (American 1903-1987)
Mel Stark was born September 29, 1903 in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. He graduated from East Stroudsburg State College with a degree in Physical Education; later attending the University of Pennsylvania, Syracuse University and the Philadelphia Museum School to study painting. His strongest influences were, however, other artists such as Cullen Yates, Anthony Thieme and Walter Baum, the latter becoming Stark's teacher in Allentown beginning in the 1920's. Stark became a teacher at the Kline-Baum School and was instrumental in the growth of the Allentown Art Museum while also maintaining a presence in Rockport, Massachusetts. In his later years, he worked and painted in Florida, summering in Rockport. He passed away on October 28, 1987 in Allentown, while on his way back to Florida from Rockport". Dr. Thomas Folk. .C. Robert Perrin (1915-1999)
Bob Perrin was born in Medford, Massachusetts. He studied art at the School of Practical Art in Boston (now called Art Institute of Boston). During World War II, Bob painted in France while serving in the armed forces. He painted an extensive mural of the U.S.O. Club in Chateau Thierry. In 1945, just out of the army, he found the unspoiled, very paintable Nantucket Island, which he believed was the ideal place to enhance his career. He had made a name for himself among top American artists before coming to spend summers to Nantucket in 1946. At that point he was splitting his time between Nantucket and Rockport, MA, where he first began to paint commercially. In 1956 he opened the first art gallery on Old South Wharf. Four years later he was joined by The Lobster Pot Gallery. In 1966 he built his gallery on Washington Street and moved to Nantucket permanently. He has continued there every since and is open to the public from 1pm-4pm. A visit to his eclectic gallery will unfold many wonders of his unique style. Most are held in spellbound conversation with this fascinating, kind and extremely talented gentleman. He has painted five decades as a Nantucket artist.
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Henry St. Clair was born in Arras, Pas de Calais, Normandy region of France in 1899 and later lived in Sotteville, near the picturesque port of Honfleur. He was born to a well-to-do family and worked as an art restorer for the National Museum of France, including the Louvre Museum.
"Mel Stark was a leading figure in the art history of eastern Pennsylvania. He was a painter, organizer and teacher. Like his close associate, Walter Baum (born 1884), he helped to create and to enrich the fine arts community in the Allentown area. At one time, Stark was also considered one of the ten leading painters at the summer colony of Rockport, Massachusetts. As an artist, Stark worked in the tradition of plein-air (outdoor landscape painting) , and spent his time chronicling the beauty of the rural Pennsylvania landscape and the wharfs of New England. He wished to keep the tradition of Impressionist landscape painting alive by passing it onto others through his teaching ... in the Allentown area. By the 1960's people began to lose interest in the style of landscape painting they had come to see as overly traditional. Stark did not live long enough to se the resurgence of interest in traditional schools.
