by Kristen Depken
| Those of us with siblings have most likely experienced sibling rivalry at some point or another. Whether a healthy contest on the soccer field or a game of tug-of-war over a favorite doll, sibling rivalry can take many forms. Yet none of us has experienced sibling rivalry quite like Stephen and Sterling Clark, brothers whose competition with each other is now the focus of a special exhibition at the Met. | | Born at the end of the 19th century and raised in New York, the Clark brothers – heirs to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune – both began collecting art in 1911, as they reached their thirties and began to establish families in homes of their own. Sterling, the eldest by five years, filled his newly renovated Parisian town house with the work of traditional 19th-century artists like Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pisarro, Sargent, and Homer. Meanwhile, Stephen was decorating his brand-new Manhattan town house with more modern works by the likes of van Gogh, Cézanne, Seurat, Picasso, Eakins, and Hopper. The brothers clearly had different tastes, yet Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings: The Clark Brothers Collect brings their dueling collections together in an impressive exhibit that not only displays masterful works, but provides a glimpse into the brothers’ relationship as well. |  | Arranged in a segment of the Met’s Nineteenth-Century European Paintings Galleries, the exhibit takes viewers through each of the brothers’ collections, which have never before been seen together. Every painting is labeled with the name of its owner, allowing viewers to witness the brothers’ contrasting tastes, as well as the few cases in which the two seemed to agree.
 Degas’ “Dancers in the Classroom”
In Sterling’s collection, the entirety of which has been housed at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, are such masterpieces as Degas’ “Dancers in the Classroom”, Renoir’s “Blonde Bather”, and Monet’s “Tulip Fields at Sassenheim, near Leiden”. His taste tended to be more conservative than that of his brother, favoring works from the early 19th-century and the Impressionist period and collecting for his own private display. Included in the exhibit are Sargent’s “A Venetian Interior”, Homer’s “Undertow”, and the most modern of Sterling’s pieces, Toulouse-Lautrec’s “Jane Avril”, bought at the request of his wife. Sargent’s “A Venetian Interior”
Stephen, meanwhile, collected for a more public sphere, placing many of the post-Impressionist and early modern works that his brother typically shunned in museums such as the MoMA.
 Seurat's “Circus Sideshow”
While Sterling insisted that he “drew the line at Cézanne”, Stephen purchased many of the artist’s works, including “The Card Players”, which is displayed alongside the well-known “Circus Sideshow” by Seurat and “The Night Café” by van Gogh. Stephen also favored the work of Eakins, purchasing his portrait, “Professor Henry A. Rowland”. The most modern of his acquisitions include Hopper’s “House by the Railroad” and Picasso’s “Cock and Dog”, the only one of Stephen’s ten Picassos on display.
 Van Gogh's “The Night Cafe”
Despite their differences, however, the brothers’ tastes did overlap at times. The exhibit boasts an entire room devoted to the works of Renoir, who was admired by both brothers; Sterling’s “Sleeping Girl with a Cat” and “Onions” hang nearby Stephen’s “A Waitress at Duval’s Restaurant” and “Madame Henriot in Costume”. Both Clarks also enjoyed the works of Manet, Corot, Sargent, Homer, and Remington, and what is often called their “silent rivalry” can be seen most clearly in two early self-portraits by Degas, one owned by Sterling and one by Stephen.
Though the brothers’ sibling rivalry was always at the forefront of their relationship, it eventually came to a head in 1923 when the two became estranged as a result of a dispute over their trusts. Yet, despite their differences, the Clarks’ patronage of such renowned artists will forever tie them together as a pair of brothers who have made a major contribution to the art world.
“Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings: The Clark Brothers Collect” is on display until August 19 in the Nineteenth-Century European Paintings Galleries on the 2nd floor of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, located on Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street. Entry is free with museum admission. |
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