Robert Verity Clem
Robert Verity Clem (born October 9, 1933 in Fall River , Bristol County , Massachusetts , † September 17, 2010 in Chatham , Barnstable County , Massachusetts) was an American bird and landscape illustrator . As a watercolorist , he developed a detailed technique that was soft, delicate, and graceful at the same time.
Life
Clem was the son of Wendell Phillips and Edith Verity Clem. He had a brother.
Clem did not enjoy any formal art training, but, strongly influenced by Louis Agassiz Fuertes , acquired his manual skills autodidactically . When he was 16, the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield , Massachusetts organized his first solo exhibition. A passionate bird watcher, Clem drew his objects (such as birds of prey , waders, and songbirds in their natural habitat) during nature excursions in the United States , including the coastal regions of Texas , California, and New Jersey .
In 1957 he wrote Notes on the Horned Coot, Fulica Cornuta Bonaparte for the specialist article , and that of S. Dillon Ripley in the Journal Postilla. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History , an illustration of the proboscis coot . In 1962 he made a color chart for the technical article Notes on the Spotted Rail in Cuba by George E. Watson in The Wilson Bulletin . In 1967, Clem illustrated the book The Shorebirds of North America by Peter Matthiessen and Gardner D. Stout . For this he designed 32 color tables with 75 species.
The Museum of American Bird Art (also known as the Mass Audubon Visual Arts Center) of the Massachusetts Audubon Society in Canton presented two exhibitions of his works in 2000 and 2011 under the title True to Life: Watercolors by Robert Verity Clem and owns more than 30 Clem's artwork, as well as his archive, including correspondence and photos. Other institutions with his pictures are the New Britain Museum of American Art in Connecticut , the Ewell Sale Stewart Library of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau , Wisconsin .
Clem was a trustee of the Chatham Conservation Foundation. A well-known student of his is the bird illustrator Julie Zickefoose .
literature
- F. Turner Reuter, Jr .: Animal & Sporting Artists in America. The National Sporting Library, Middleburg, Virginia, 2008, ISBN 978-0-9792441-1-7 , p. 145
- Tim Wood: Artist Clem Remembered For Ability To Capture 'Essence' Of Birds In: Cape Cod Chronicle, September 23, 2010.
Web links
- Brief profile at the Museum of American Bird Art
- Selection of Clems pictures at Artnet
- Life dates at Find A Grave
- Literature by and about Robert Verity Clem in the WorldCat bibliographic database
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Clem, Robert Verity |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American bird and landscape illustrator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 9, 1933 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Fall River , Bristol County , Massachusetts |
| DATE OF DEATH | 17th September 2010 |
| Place of death | Chatham , Barnstable County , Massachusetts |