The PRIVATE ART DEALERS ASSOCIATION – PADA the first association to represent private art dealers — has announced that the recipient of the 2013 Annual PADA Grant is the Sterling and Francine Clark Institute of Williamstown, MA.
The 2013 grant will be awarded November 11th at the annual dinner of the PRIVATE ART DEALERS ASSOCIATION (PADA) which is celebrating its 25th Anniversary with its first-ever public exhibition, “PRIVATE GOES PUBLIC,” November 1 – November 16.
THE PRIVATE ART DEALERS ASSOCIATION (PADA) has funded numerous philanthropic activities over the past two decades including projects at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Frick Art Reference Library, and the Museo del Barrio, among many.
Old Masters dealers Robert Simon, President of the Private Art Dealers Association, says, “We are delighted to be recognizing the achievements of the Sterling and Francine Clark Institute with our 2013 Grant. Its distinction as both an art museum and a center for research and higher education sets it apart from many other arts organizations. Its dedication to advancing and extending the public understanding of art unites the differing purposes of an art museum and a center for research and higher education in a dynamic and exhilarating way.”
The Institute was founded in 1950 to house the permanent art collection of Sterling and Francine Clark. Mr. Clark had settled in Paris in 1910 after a distinguished military career and began collecting works of art, an interest he inherited from his parents. When he married Francine Clary in 1919, she joined him in what quickly became a shared passion. Together they created a remarkable collection of paintings, silver, sculpture, porcelain, drawings, and prints with complete reliance on their own judgments and taste. Since its conception, the Institute has had a dual mission as both a museum and a center for research and higher education. It is in this spirit that the Clark has expanded over the last five decades to become the influential institution it is today.
The Institute’s Director, Michael Conforti has said, “It’s not unusual for a museum director to be asked, “What makes your museum special?” It happens every day. Visitors, staff, donors — they all want to know. For me the key to the Clark’s special nature lies in the three aspects of its distinctive personality: its art, its unique setting, and its commitment to the generation of ideas.
“At the heart of the Institute is its extraordinary collection of Impressionist and Old Master paintings whose refinement and appeal reflect the fact that the museum has grown from a core group of works carefully and personally chosen by the founders. The domestic and human scale of the galleries, with views out to the pond, surrounding fields, and distant mountains, fosters the contemplation and enjoyment of works of art in an intimate and warm setting: an unhurried experience with real works of art seemingly a world away from the virtual age. This is the hallmark of the Clark experience, an experience that is remembered forever by the thousands of visitors who come here annually from all over the world.
The PRIVATE ART DEALERS ASSOCIATION (PADA) comprises fifty of the world’s leading dealers in 17th to 21st century European and American paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and sculpture. Thirty-two PADA members are participating in the “PRIVATE GOES PUBLIC” exhibition at 13 East 69th Street, where galleries of three PADA members are located. All the artworks on view will be available for sale. An illustrated catalog will provide details on each of the dealers exhibiting at this show.