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Clark Hobart Biography

Often compared to Cézanne, Clark Hobart is nationally known for his Impressionist portraits and landscapes. Born in Rockford, Illinois on Jan. 1, 1868, Hobart moved to California with his family when he was a small boy. He studied art in San Francisco at the School of Design under J. A. Stanton and Giuseppe Cadenasso, and privately with William Keith.  He then spent three years at the ASL in NYC under Robert Blum and George Bridgman and completed his art training in Paris.

Returning to the U.S. in 1903, he worked in NYC as art editor for the Burr-McIntosh magazine before moving to Monterey, CA in 1911.  The turning point in his career came in 1915 at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.  During the exposition Hobart was awarded a silver medal and received praise from local art critics for his development of color monotype prints.  When the Oakland Civic Art Gallery opened in 1916, an entire room was devoted to his monotypes. In that year Hobart left the Monterey Peninsula and established a studio in San Francisco.  From his studio came portraits of Carl Oscar Borg, Mrs. Leo Lentelli, and Gottardo Piazzoni.

In 1923 he was one of eight San Francisco painters shown in a special exhibition organized by N.R. Helgesen. The artist’s inclusion in the exhibition, which also featured the work of Gottardo Piazzoni, Maynard Dixon, Armin Hansen, Joseph Raphael, and Bruce Nelson, firmly established the importance and merit of his work.
  
Member: The Bohemian Club; California Society of Etchers; San Francisco Art Association; San Francisco Society of Artists

Exhibitions: California Society of Etchers; Del Monte Gallery (Monterey), 1912-13; California Artists, Golden Gate Park Museum, 1915; Panama-Calif. Exposition (San Diego), 1915; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1915, 1918; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1915; Kennedy Gallery (NYC), 1916; NY Architectural League, 1916; National Academy of Design, 1916; Calif. Liberty Fair, 1918 (1st prize); San Francisco Art Association, 1918 (Crocker Prize), 1921 (1st prize), 1922 (gold medal); Western Ass'n of Art Museum Directors, 1922; Bohemian Club, 1922, 1923 (solo), 1929; Golden Gate International Exhibition, 1939; Oakland Museum, 1981.

Work in Permanent Collections: San Francisco Museum of Art; California Historical Society; Bohemian Club; De Young Museum; Mills College (Oakland); Oakland Museum; Salinas High School; Nevada Museum (Reno); Monterey Peninsula Museum.


Source: Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"; Westphal/Plein Air Painters of California-The North, 1986.