WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Clark Art Institute is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of its Manton Research Center building through a year-long series of exhibitions, events, and a special publication detailing the history of the building. 

 

To honor the milestone anniversary, the Clark presents two exhibitions opening later this autumn celebrating its works on paper collection. On November 18, the Clark opens 50 Years and Forward: British Prints and Drawings Acquisitions in the Eugene V. Thaw Gallery of the Manton Research Center. On December 16, the large-scale exhibition 50 Years and Forward: Works on Paper Acquisitions opens in the Clark Center's special exhibition galleries.

 

The Manton Research Center is the home to the Clark's works on paper collection and hosts spaces dedicated to their presentation and research with both the Manton Study Center for Works on Paper and the Eugene V. Thaw Gallery for Works on Paper. The Manton Research Center also houses the Institute's library, exhibition galleries, the offices and classrooms for the Williams College/Clark Graduate Program in the History of Art, the Clark's auditorium, and its administrative offices.

 

"The Manton Research Center is the beating heart of the Clark Art Institute," said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark. "This building is central to every aspect of what we do here, from exploring our galleries featuring our British art collection and decorative arts collections, to all of the many ways in which students, scholars, visitors, and museum professionals use the space and the resources found in this building to study art, pursue research, learn from one another, and exchange information on a wide array of topics.

 

The Manton Research Center was designed by renowned architect Pietro Belluschi, working with The Architects' Collaborative, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was completed in 1973. In 2016, Annabelle Selldorf, principal of Selldorf Architects, completed a major renovation. In 2007, the Manton Art Foundation made a gift to the Clark of more than 300 paintings, drawings, and prints by British artists, together with an endowment of $50 million, constituting the most significant contribution of art to the Clark since its founding in 1955. The Manton Collection of British Art consists of works by artists including Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable, and Joseph Mallord William Turner, and was created by business leader and arts patron Sir Edwin A. G. Manton (1909–2005) and his wife Florence, Lady Manton (1911–2003). In recognition of the Manton family's extraordinary generosity and their commitment to research and higher education, the Clark honored Sir Edwin and Lady Manton by rededicating the red granite building as the Manton Research Center in 2007.

 

On view through February 11, 2024, 50 Years and Forward: British Prints and Drawings Acquisitions is a celebration of British works on paper collected by the Clark over the past fifty years. British art did not constitute a major focus of Sterling and Francine Clark's collecting and despite occasional acquisitions in this area in the early years of the Institute, it was not until the gift of Sir Edwin and Lady Manton's collection that British art rose dramatically in significance and visibility at the Clark. The Clark's continuing commitment to collecting British art continues now with recent acquisitions shown for the first time. This exhibition includes Thomas Rowlandson, J. M. W. Turner, Thomas Girtin, H.W. Williams, Samuel Palmer, Thomas Frye, Evelyn de Morgan, Anna Alma-Tadema, and more.

 

In December, the opening of 50 Years and Forward: Works on Paper Acquisitions offers a selection of prints, drawings, and photographs acquired between 1973 and 2023. On view from December 16, 2023 through March 10, 2024, the exhibition features recent acquisitions and other works never before shown at the Clark.  Along with familiar works by artists including Albrecht Dürer, Francisco Goya, Édouard Manet, and Mary Cassatt, 50 Years and Forward: Works on Paper Acquisitions highlights lesser-known parts of the collection, including early twentieth-century art, photographs by Berenice Abbott and Doris Ulmann, and important images of and by Black Americans.

 

Both exhibitions were curated by Anne Leonard, Manton Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. Leonard presents a free opening lecture covering the two exhibitions on Saturday, December 16 at 11 am in the Clark's auditorium, located in the Manton Research Center.

 

In November, the Clark's Research and Academic Program hosts a special symposium on British art. The program includes:

 

Curating British Art: A Conversation with Olivier Meslay

November 29, 5:30 pm. Free.

 

Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark, and Caroline Fowler, Starr Director of the Research and Academic Program, discuss Meslay's experience curating British art, and how the field of British art has changed since Meslay mounted one of the first exhibitions dedicated to British art at the Louvre Museum in Paris in 1994, British Art in French Collections. A scholar of British art, Meslay brings his experience of working within both French and American institutions to consider how shifting ideas of borders, nationalism, art history, and exhibition trends have transformed not only the field of British art but also museum practice and exhibitions more widely.

 

British Art 1750–1919: Reflections and Futures Symposium

November 30, 9 am–5 pm. Free.

 

In celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Manton Research Center building, this symposium is an opportunity to reflect on the Manton Collection of British Art, one of the strongest collections of British art assembled in the last fifty years. The Research and Academic Program, in collaboration with the Williams College/Clark Graduate Program in the History of Art, convenes scholars—former fellows, staff, and Williams students—whose work has been influenced by their time within the Manton building.

 

The fiftieth anniversary celebration continues with a special film series, Great British Films, honoring Sir Edwin Manton's British roots. The four-part program showcases British cinematic masterpieces released during the last fifty years.

 

Manton Film Series: Great British Films

 

Thursday, November 2

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949; 1 hour, 46 minutes)

 

Fiendishly funny, Kind Hearts and Coronets stands as one of Ealing Studios' greatest triumphs and one of the most wicked comedies ever made. Dennis Price is sublime as an embittered young commoner determined to avenge his mother's unjust disinheritance by ascending to her family's dukedom. Unfortunately, eight relatives, all played by Alec Guinness, must be eliminated before he can do so.

 

Thursday, November 9

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951; 1 hour, 23 minutes)

 

The Lavender Hill Mob might be the archetypal Ealing comedy. It's got everything the studio is famous for???loveable crooks, class conflict, London streets, avuncular bobbies, pratfalls, slapstick, tea, buns, and Alec Guinness???but with a Hitchcock-inspired thriller plot that makes it the most enthralling of their features. Guinness and Stanley Holloway play the bumbling suburbanites whose plot to hijack a van full of gold bullion and smuggle it abroad disguised as Eiffel Tower paperweights leads to all manner of hijinks and hysteria. Charles Crichton's direction is subtle but inventive???check out the snaking, near-single-take opening in a Rio cabana—and the performances, writing, and plotting are faultless.

 

Thursday, November 30

Chariots of Fire (1981; 2 hours, 3 minutes)

 

"The British are coming!" screenwriter Colin Welland famously proclaimed, Oscar in hand. While this sporting saga ultimately proved not to herald a British celluloid renaissance, it certainly flew the flag for the industry's craftsmanship and acting talent. Although often remembered as a celebration of gritty Brits triumphing over much-fancied Americans, Chariots of Fire is actually a portrait of social outsiders making their contribution to the greater national good: Ian Charleson's God-fearing Scot who refuses to run on the Sabbath and Ben Cross's Jewish sprinter. First-time director Hugh Hudson was—like Alan Parker and Ridley Scott before him—recruited by producer David Puttnam from the advertising world. His skilled commercial aesthetic is exemplified by the striking juxtaposition of 1920s athletes and Vangelis's modern electronic score.

 

All screenings are free and begin at 6 pm in the Clark's auditorium.