Curator’s Notes: This exhibition is meant to reveal John Ford Clymer’s journey as an artist.  It began at an early age.  His talent is demonstrated in the pen & ink drawings on display.  Completed at the age of 15, when he is signing as Junior Clymer.  By the 1920s he is exploring the Cannon of art with studies like the Girl with Fruit Basket or the painterly but more academic Empire Baby.

In the same period, he paints Indians with Petroglyphs.  This painting is much more a Clymer.  It reveals an excitement for painting and ideas. 

In the 30s he retains consistency with narrative paintings. This is exemplified in Girl and Cockatoo.  Even more dramatic in expression is Old Woman and Fiddler, an eerie work exclusively of a black and white pallet.

 His work from the Yearling series, Jody and the Deer and The Dance, reveal a tenderness and sense of humor for our humanity.  Look closely at The Dance.  There is the exuberance of the dancers, surrounded by the complexity of the observers.  There are the gossiping, disapproving old biddies, an old woman contemplating another chunk of cake. There are older men enjoying the youthful vigor of the dancers.   Perhaps they are reflecting on their lost vitality, as the youth on the edge of the painting, wait for their chance to revel in their approaching adulthood.

There are marvelous examples of Clymer as an American Impressionist, Shushkin Canyon (1938).  Impressionism will remain fundamental to all his mature work.

In the 50s there are works that seem out of context with his illustrative paintings unless we keep reminding ourselves that he was more than an illustrator.  Take Early Spinning, Dyeing, Weaving in Peru (1952).  This is a reminder that his interest, perhaps influenced by a world war, went beyond American introspection. 

Clymer was passionate about America’s wilderness.  The subject in Only the Sound of Water is not tamed.  Look at this cougar.  Those eyes reveal the predator, that muscular body demands a cautious approach. 

It is another example, from the many presented here, that require us to step back and look deeper into Clymer’s development, interests, and the full context of his body of work.  It’s important to broaden our understanding of Clymer, to recognize him as an artist in the fullest sense of that word.