The Artist and His Legacy
Hulings' work defines a modernist sensibility without departing from the real—without removing all that is recognizable or deluding the audience by escaping into the wholly abstract.
The Modern Realist
Hulings undermined the distraction of class, reminding us that most people don’t move between glamorous towers or drag their knuckles. He showcased the dignity, nobility, and beauty of common people and ordinary things.
One of the Great Discoverers
Hulings insisted the contemporary world could only be fully understood by specific, personal awareness of its inhabitants. Therefore, he was relentlessly devoted to the figure and figurative work. He pursued stunning multinational backdrops replete with the day-to-day realities only visible through the lens of an international nomad.
Challenging an Audience & Status Quo
A relentless experimenter, Hulings exploited modern techniques from the conventions of impressionism and abstract art, bending them with equal ease into the service of an open-ended art of the figure that wouldn’t limit itself to conventional realist boundaries. His compositional "recipes" enabled him to play the sly subversive, literally slipping things under our noses that we might otherwise be too closed to notice.
Advancing the Craft and its Meaning
Clark Hulings assailed our bias toward the “other” by engaging culture through visceral daily reality. An enemy of distraction, he reprimanded modernism’s flight from that challenge and into the purely abstract. He instead produced a continuous documentary of a changing world at the pace of its most common inhabitants.
Freshly Revealed
New Hulings discoveries every week!
Auction Alert: Bayou Fisherwoman
“There is no State in the Union, hardly any spot of like size on the globe, where the man [sic] of color has lived so intensely, made so much progress, been of such historical importance.” —Alice Dunbar-Nelson Louisiana was Clark Hulings’ family home for many years. In his own words from A Gallery of Paintings: […]
SOLD: Tesuque Frieze
“Hulings was invited to visit and celebrate Tesuque in paint: a rare honor for a non-Native artist.” Tesuque Frieze is a fascinating painting; it’s an especially noteworthy example of Hulings’ technical prowess, as well as his characteristic fearlessness and sense of humor. Santa Fe, New Mexico is among the oldest cities in the US, but […]
Auction Alert: The Collector-Naples
The Collector-Naples is a 17 x 24″ watercolor similar to one featured in Hulings’ early 1960s Tulsa Watercolor show at the NarBil gallery in Oklahoma. If this cheering work belongs on your wall, you can acquire it at this year’s Scottsdale Art Auction on June 13th.
Burning Ships & Wayward Widows
“We’re living in stressful times now, but you can imagine that Queen Elizabeth I really had her hands full…” Today, for a little historical escapism, we’re going back to Elizabethan England. This 1953 Cardinal edition of Jan Westcott’s The Walsingham Woman features Clark Hulings’ cover illustration. In this partial inventory of Queen Elizabeth I’s headaches, […]
SOLD: Still Life With Chinese Jar
“A Hulings still life is always dynamic and full of movement, even if the overall effect is a calming one.” In the midst of so much rapid and unexpected change, stillness can be a beautiful thing. As we listen to our doctors and public health officials and take all necessary practical measures to stay well […]
Auction Alert: Washing Clothes In A Canal
“If this reminds you of the humor and frustration of convincing a child or grandchild to pick up the pace, it may be the perfect addition to your collection.” If you have ever spent time with children between about ages five and ten…you know they are masters of the dawdle. You’re trying to get the […]
SOLD: Burro Near Talpa, NM
“It’s signature subject matter for Hulings, who admired burros’ self-determined personalities, loyalty, and amazing capacity for hard work.” Quiet moments are hard to come by, but this painting really gives us a moment to exhale. Burro Near Talpa, NM is a 16 x 24″ snow scene—a study exploring the muted silvery gray-green palette Hulings used to […]
Auction Alert: Torremolinos, Once
Torremolinos, Once oil on canvas, 27 x 44” 1998 price available on request For sale through The Scottsdale Art Auction—please email or call 843-247-2217 for more information. Read our Freshly Revealed piece about this painting: “Paint More, Sleep Less”
Auction Alert: Market Day, San Miguel de Allende
“The whole scene has a feeling of being under the protective canopy provided by the verdant tree and the church.” San Miguel de Allende, Mexico has captured the imaginations of so many fine artists. This 1967 Hulings’ work is a masterful one; a standout example of his series of paintings with San Miguel subject matter. […]
Auction Alert: Konya Carriage
“There’s an end-of-day feeling with the setting amber sun creating long shadows and highlighting the dust kicked-up by the horses.” The Scottsdale Art Auction in April 2020 features a series of beautiful Clark Hulings paintings that represent a number of eras, places, and styles from his body of work. Spinning City This week, we travel […]
“Ears” to the Ground
“Sometimes the irregular is what makes things beautiful, Mr. De Meo said.” —Jason Horowitz Traditional crafts become even more precious as industrialization becomes ever-more present. So many stories are bound-up in the skills transmitted through generations of artists and makers. A recent Jason Horowitz New York Times piece features a current photo of the “pasta […]
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