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!
A Slice of Sicily
“‘La Vucciría’ translates as ‘voices’ or ‘hubbub,’ which we hear as vendors call out their specials and buyers haggle, as they’ve done for centuries.” Busy. If you ask people of any tradition how they’re doing this time of year, they’ll tell you they are busy. Work, family, travel, hosting guests, holiday parties, shopping: it’s one […]
Fall Colors in Connecticut
“Even on a clear fall day in Connecticut there is still a beautiful soft haze in the air that seems to go with lush grass and old walls.” Flying Colors Is it just us, or are we all in need of some sunshine and color as the days get shorter? This 1969 painting is an […]
Paris in the Fall
“Flower markets are signature subject matter for Clark Hulings—the Place des Ternes was a favorite spot.” The romantics love Paris in the springtime, but what’s more beautiful than Paris in the fall? Some of us have already seen snow, and many of us are still enjoying the fallen leaves on the grey sidewalks of city […]
Somewhere Along the Nile
“We know from the watercolors of Turner, Sargent and Flint that the medium can be used to create masterpieces which can stand with pride alongside any oil. And, because of the extraordinary discipline required, it is also excellent training for oil painting. It requires the joint skills of drawing with the brush and planning out a whole picture in advance. What competence I possess as an oil painter I feel I owe to the years I spent working exclusively in watercolor.”
SOLD: Windrush Plantation
Update: this painting had a successful sale at auction in Dallas! Sending our congrats to the new owners. “This is a rare opportunity for collectors to be able to get their hands on a very important Hulings work from the American South.” Windrush Plantation is an important Hulings work from Louisiana. The painting had a particularly […]
SOLD: Pepito on Donkey Leading Donkey
UPDATE: Both of these paintings had successful sales at the Santa Fe Art Auction! Congratulations to the new owner, who is an avid Hulings collector and sure to give these paintings a wonderful new home. “No matter where in the world and what age you are, there are things to get done.” Clark Hulings loved […]
Auction Alert: Two Still Lifes
Hulings’ still lifes are a chance to see him work through technical challenges, and are an absolute must for flower-lovers—not to mention cooks. Two of them are up for auction in Santa Fe Nov 10th.
Gravity Check
While many of us can’t claim to have an in-depth understanding of physics, we all know Albert Einstein as an icon, even if it’s only for the instantly-recognizable bushy hair and mustache. There’s something endearing and accessible about a Nobel Prize-winner and one of the great scientific minds of the twentieth century looking like a bit of a character.
Auction Alert: Caramel From The Carmelites
Hulings 1981 Spanish painting “In Watering Place at Ubeda” will be featured at Santa Fe Art Auction November 10th. It’s a classic slice of life from Spain. The winding orange-yellow earth road flows around a corner of buildings, where daily life is unfolding. A man brings his white burro to drink from a stone cistern, where a lean greyhound is also considering a drink.
SOLD: Tesuque Cottonwood
Update: Tesuque Cottonwood sold at the Santa Fe Art Auction! This beautiful view of New Mexico will be gracing a new wall and we’re sending our congratulations to the new owners. “Clearly 1976 was a good year in the area, because there’s water in the stream and all the chamisa are green and happy.” This week we’re […]
Auction Alert: Tesuque Mayor’s Back Yard
“Tesuque Mayor’s Backyard” is masterfully composed in a way that keeps your eye in perpetual motion, has particularly engaging use of color, and features a gorgeous display of chiaroscuro in the alternating bands of light and shadow. It’s coming up at Heritage Auctions in Dallas on November 8th.
Water is Life
Hulings painted “Boy Leading Water Burro” in 1981. It’s almost, but not quite a square, which gives a cozy feel to the frame. Set in Mexico, the strong, directional sunlight gives a high-contrast look to the painting and adds a bright spark to these tough little guys. If you look carefully at the top and right, you’ll see a series of amber highlights almost burning through the frame, as if the scene is lit from the inside.
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