For Immediate Release
December 3, 2024

CLARK ART INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES HOLIDAY HOURS

Williamstown, Massachusetts—The Clark Art Institute will be closed in observance of Christmas Eve on Tuesday, December 24 and Christmas Day on Wednesday, December 25. The Clark is open for regular hours on Tuesday, December 31 from 10 am to 5 pm. In observance of New Year’s Day, the Clark is closed on Wednesday, January 1, 2025. 

Highlights of the Clark’s winter holiday schedule include:

Wall Power! Modern French Tapestry from the Mobilier national, Paris 
Beginning in the 1930s, artists, government officials, art dealers, and entrepreneurs sought ways to modernize the ancient tradition of tapestry-making in France to reassert its role as an independent art form available to contemporary artists. Several decades of intense production and experimentation followed that brought international attention to a renewed tradition of French tapestry, as well as new opportunities for the historic manufactories of Gobelins and Beauvais, now overseen by the Mobilier national of France, and the private tapestry workshops in and around Aubusson. Drawn from the celebrated collection of the Mobilier national from the 1940s to the present day, this exhibition explores tapestries by such artists as Joan Miró, Jean Lurçat, Henri Matisse, and Le Corbusier, who were central to the rapid resurgence of tapestry production; mid-century abstraction by artists including Sonia Delaunay and Victor Vasarely; and more recent productions including works by Gilles Aillaud and Kiki Smith. 

Wall Power! Modern French Tapestry from the Mobilier national, Paris is organized by the Clark Art Institute and curated by Kathleen Morris, Sylvia and Leonard Marx Director of Collections and Exhibitions and curator of decorative arts.

Generous support for this exhibition is provided by George W. Ahl III, the Coby Foundation, and Robert D. Kraus. The exhibition catalogue is made possible by Denise Littlefield Sobel.

Abelardo Morell: In the Company of Monet and Constable  
In recent years, Cuban-American photographer Abelardo Morell (b. 1948, Havana; lives and works in Boston) has used his signature Tent/Camera technology to capture the places where leading nineteenth-century landscape painters John Constable (English, 1776–1837) and Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926) made their iconic works. Abelardo Morell: In the Company of Monet and Constable showcases over a dozen of the artist’s large-scale photographs.

Walking in the paths of Constable and Monet to make pictures in their spirit, Morell has traveled to locations in England and France with a Tent/Camera, a device that allows him to unite in a single photographic image the features of a landscape view with whatever happens to be underfoot—leaves, blades of grass, pebbles, cobblestones, and so on. Combining picturesque vistas with ground-level natural details, Morell’s luscious color photographs reflect on one’s relation to art as well as nature through their complex fusion of the historical and the contemporary, the transitory and the lasting, the pictorial and the photographic.

Abelardo Morell: In the Company of Monet and Constable is organized by the Clark Art Institute and curated by Anne Leonard, Manton Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. 

Generous support for this exhibition is provided by the Troob Family Foundation.

In the New Auteurs Film Series, the Clark partners with Images Cinema to present films that capture the explosion of creativity, critical acclaim, and box office success that Hollywood directors found after the fall of the studio system in the later twentieth century. Screenings are scheduled for December 5, 12, and 19, 2024; January 16, 23, and 30, 2025; and February 6, 13, 20, and 27, 2025. All films are free and presented in the Manton Research Center auditorium at 6 pm. Each film is introduced by a staff member of the Clark or Images. For more information on the lineup, visit clarkart.edu/events. 

The Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD presentation of The Magic Flute airs in the Clark’s auditorium in the Manton Research Center, on Saturday, December 28, at 1 pm. Mozart’s beloved fable returns in an encore broadcast of Tony Award–winner Julie Taymor’s colorful, puppet-filled production. Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the family-friendly production of the delightful fairy tale that has captivated audiences for centuries. The award-winning Met: Live in HD series features the full performance along with backstage interviews and commentary before the show and during intermission. 

Tickets $25 ($22 members, $18 students, $5 children 15 and under). Advance registration encouraged; capacity is limited. To purchase tickets, visit clarkart.edu/events or call the box office at 413 458 0524. No refunds.

Kids Can Cook!, the Clark’s popular children’s cooking class returns on December 29 at 11 am. The event is recommended for children ages 5 to 10. Little chefs will learn cooking techniques and whip up goodies from around the world. Sign up early as this class always sells out!

Tickets $30 ($28 members). Recommended for ages 5–10; a take-home goodie bag is included. Advance registration required. Registration reserves a spot for a child and their guardian (a guardian must accompany each child). For more information and to register, visit clarkart.edu/events. 

Holiday treats abound in the Clark’s Museum Store, the ideal place to locate imaginative gift ideas for all ages. With a wide selection of jewelry, clothing, home décor, and art books, the Museum Store is a shopper’s delight for unique gifts. The Museum Store is open during the Clark’s normal hours and is available online at store.clarkart.edu.

And if the weather is white, don’t forget to visit the Clark’s campus (open daily with no admission) for snowy fun. The Clark’s Project Snowshoe program offers free use of snowshoes in adult and children’s sizes to trek the campus; the Clark’s Stone Hill is also one of Williamstown’s most popular sledding destinations.

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 some 300,000 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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