Historical museum to show exhibit about heiress through June 26
A self-portrait of Huguette Marcelle Clark is part of an exhibit about the heiress. The exhibit continues through June 26 at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.
There’s no doubt about the continued interest in Santa Barbara heiress Huguette Marcelle Clark.
Because of popular demand, the exhibit “Huguette Marcelle Clark: A Portrait of the Artist” has been extended until June 26 at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, 136 E. De la Guerra St.
The Santa Barbara exhibit is the first exhibit of the heiress’ art since 1931.
In addition to the exhibit being extended, a special pop-up display went up Friday, showing Spanish shawls, dresses and intricately designed accessories from the family’s collection of items relating to Old Spanish Days, aka Fiesta, a tradition that began in 1924.
The exhibit and pop-up are presented in collaboration with the Bellosguardo Foundation (www.bellosguardo.org). Both are displayed through June 26.
“This has been such a wonderful opportunity to share Huguette’s talent as an artist and her connections to Santa Barbara,” Museum Director Dacia Harwood said in a news release. “Due to the immense popularity of the collaborative exhibition, we’re happy to extend it so as many as possible can see it, and the Fiesta-related items make a delightful addition.”
The exhibition, which opened in February, features self-portraits, portraits, a still life, a ballerina, and a Spanish dancer, among others. Several of the works selected, all oils, were conserved in anticipation of the exhibition. Also on view is a selection of personal items from Ms. Clark’s photo albums and scrapbooks, illustrating her childhood and early life in Santa Barbara.
As a young woman, Ms. Clark studied painting with renowned portraitist Tadeusz (Tadé) Styka, whose portrait of Ms. Clark is on view in the exhibit.
Born in 1906, Ms. Clark was the daughter of copper magnate and U.S. Senator William Andrews Clark. She spent much of her childhood and early adulthood in Santa Barbara at the 23-acre, oceanfront Bellosguardo estate, the family’s summer home. Ms. Clark inherited the property in 1963.
Upon her death in 2011 at the age of 104, she bequeathed it to the Bellosguardo Foundation with the goal of transforming it into a focal point for art and culture.
Admission to the Santa Barbara Historical Museum is free. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and noon to 7 p.m. Thursdays. For more information, go to www.sbhistorical.org.
email: dmason@newspress.com
