For Immediate Release
December 14, 2022

CLARK ART INSTITUTE OFFERS FREE ADMISSION, SPECIAL ACTIVITIES, AND A POP-UP EXHIBITION ON JANUARY 8

Williamstown, Massachusetts—The Clark Art Institute offers a fun-filled day of special activities on January 8 as part of its Fun on First Sundays program. Admission to the galleries and special exhibitions is free all day and visitors can enjoy special activities from 1–4 pm.  

January’s event is themed to the concept of portraits. Visitors can make portraits and are encouraged to reflect on the idea of a portrait. A variety of materials for collage and photo-based portraits will be available. For those who choose to make a self-portrait, mirrors will be provided. Museumgoers may also pick up a self-guide from the Admissions desk and, while browsing portraits in the collection, meet with artists stationed around the museum or sit for their own portraits. 

In conjunction with First Sunday programming, the Clark’s Manton Study Center for Works on Paper hosts a special pop-up exhibition. Take a journey through different portrait traditions represented in the Clark’s works on paper collection—from Old Master engravings featuring sumptuous regalia and multiple attributes to the stark, pared-down lithographic portrait of Edvard Munch contemplating his own mortality.

While visiting the Clark, visitors can see the Clark’s newest exhibition, Promenades on Paper: Eighteenth-Century French Drawings from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, in the Clark Center galleries. Featuring a selection of eighty-six enchanting studies, architectural plans, albums, sketchbooks, prints, and optical devices, the exhibition expands the understanding of drawing as a tool of documentation and creation in the age of Enlightenment. Also on view is On the Horizon: Art and Atmosphere in the Nineteenth Century in the Eugene V. Thaw Gallery of the Clark’s Manton Research Center. This exhibition chronologically charts the visual response to the ideation, use, and eventual misuse of air in the nineteenth century.

Admission to the Clark is free from January through March 2023. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events. No advance registration required.

Family programs are generously supported by Allen & Company.

ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of more than 285,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.

The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. Galleries are open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday, from September through June, and daily in July and August. Admission is free January through March and is $20 from March through December; admission is free year-round for Clark members, all visitors age 21 and under, and students with a valid student ID. Free admission is also available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.

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