Ed Clark (photographer)

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Ed Clark
Born(1911-07-03)July 3, 1911
Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedJanuary 22, 2000(2000-01-22) (aged 88)
Sarasota, Florida, U.S.
Known forPhotography

Ed Clark (July 3, 1911,

Washington, DC
.

The Nashville Tennessean

Clark dropped out of Hume-Fogg High School after he told the editor of the

Nashville Tennessean newspaper he was a photographer and got a job as an assistant.[1] "I lied," he later admitted.[2] He recalled that "Covering a parade once, I used too much flash powder and nearly blew myself off the roof".[2] However, he learned quickly and was promoted to staff photographer, a position he held for 13 years.[1]

Life magazine

His work came to the notice of Life, which made him a stringer in 1936.[1][3] A 1942 photograph of World War I hero Alvin York registering for "The Old Man's Draft"[4] brought a job offer, but he turned it down; "I was raising two young boys, and New York didn't seem like the place to raise them," he later explained.[2] However, he changed his mind, becoming a staff photographer in 1944, after Life allowed him to remain in Tennessee for a few years.[2][5]

Graham Jackson photograph

When he received a telephone call informing him that President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died, he drove all night from his home in Nashville to Warm Springs, Georgia.[6][5] As the President's body was being taken to the train station, Clark, alone among the swarm of photographers present, noticed United States Navy bandsman Graham W. Jackson Sr. playing "Goin' Home", one of Roosevelt's favorite tunes, on his accordion as tears ran down his face.[5][7] Jackson later recalled, "The photographer stumbled over my foot and looked up. He saw my face and saw those tears coming down my cheek, and he just reached around on his shoulder and got one of his cameras and - blip - and thought no more of it."[8] The iconic photograph was published full page in the April 17, 1945, issue of Life, capturing the nation's grief.

Post-war

In 1945, he was temporarily assigned to the Paris offices. At the

Nuremberg Trials, Clark photographed Hermann Göring.[6]

In 1948, a series of photographs documented the gross inequality in educational resources allocated to white versus black children in the West Memphis School District of Arkansas; a single teacher had 100 black students, crammed into a single classroom.[9] The Life story led to the construction of a new building for them.[1]

That same year, Clark was assigned to the

Twentieth Century-Fox. He took a series of pictures of a then unknown Marilyn Monroe which were not published at the time; much later, they came to light during a search of Life's archives.[11]

He was also in the good graces of presidents. He took a portrait of

Jackie Kennedy asked for 75 copies.[2]

In 1955, Clark received an unexpected invitation from the

MoMA's blockbuster, world-touring The Family of Man exhibition, seen by more than nine million people.[15]

Due to budgetary cutbacks, Life let go a third of its photographic staff in 1963, Ed Clark among them.[16] By then, his vision had become impaired due to a cataract.[16]

Later life

He became a building contractor in Bethesda, Maryland[16] or Washington.[17]

In 1982, a doctor removed his cataract and implanted a new lens, restoring his vision.

Ladies Home Journal.[17]

In 1990, he was awarded the Photographic Society of America's Understanding Through Photography Award.[1]

He took some courses on modern methods of black-and-white and color printing at Nashville State Tech. He later donated his collection to that institution.[16]

Ed Clark and his wife Joyce moved to Sarasota, Florida. He died there on January 22, 2000, at the age of 88. His first wife, Garnet, predeceased him.[17] He was survived by Joyce, his son Tom (from his first marriage), two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.[3]

References

  1. ^
    Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture
    . Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d e Huisking, Charlie. "Ed Clark". The Digital Journalist. 9902: 1. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  3. ^ a b Margarett Loke (January 28, 2000). "Ed Clark, 88, Eye Behind Memorable Photos". The New York Times.
  4. ^ Huisking, Charlie. "Ed Clark". The Digital Journalist. 9902: 3. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  5. ^ a b c "The Photography of Edward Clark". Life.
  6. ^ a b c d "Ed Clark; Life Photographer Had 'Eye of an Artist'". Los Angeles Times. January 28, 2000.
  7. ^ Huisking, Charlie. "Ed Clark". The Digital Journalist. 9902: 8. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  8. ^ "Graham Washington Jackson, Navy Musician". The New York Times. January 20, 1983.
  9. ^ Huisking, Charlie. "Ed Clark". The Digital Journalist. 9902: 12. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  10. ^ Huisking, Charlie. "Ed Clark". The Digital Journalist. 9902: 2. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  11. ^ "Marilyn: Never-Published Photos". Life magazine. Archived from the original on March 26, 2011. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  12. ^ Huisking, Charlie. "Ed Clark". The Digital Journalist. 9902: 20. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  13. ^ Huisking, Charlie. "Ed Clark". The Digital Journalist. 9902: 21. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  14. ^ Huisking, Charlie. "Ed Clark". The Digital Journalist. 9902: 18. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  15. ^ Steichen, Edward; Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) (1955), The family of man, Pub. for the Museum of Modern Art by the Maco Magazine Corp, retrieved 17 May 2016
  16. ^ a b c "Ed Clark, 88, Life Photographer". The Washington Post. January 27, 2000.

External links

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