Clarence Holbrook Carter was born in the town of Portsmouth, Ohio on the Ohio River across from Kentucky. At age 19 he traveled to Cleveland to study with Henry Keller and Paul Travis, supporting himself by working in the tearoom at the Cleveland Museum of Art. There his skill drew the attention of the Museum's director, William Milliken. Milliken helped Carter travel to Italy to study with Hans Hoffman and promoted the sale of work he sent back from his European trip. He became a perennial winner in art shows in Cleveland. His work for the 1928 International Watercolor Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art cemented his critical reputation. He was able to support himself with sales of his artwork, supplemented by work for the WPA in the 1930s. He taught painting and design at Carnegie Tech from 1938-1944. Later he took positions as a commercial artist with work that appeared in Fortune and Life magazines. By the 1960s Carter had moved toward abstract themes, which he expressed in different sets of images, such as "Over and Above" (which featured giant animal images peering out over walls), "Transections" (which involved geometric structural combinations) and "Eschatos" (symbolic works with a strong geometrical theme).Girls I Have Known, 1933Large White Egg Form, 1965
Critical Analysis
Carter's technical skill and his palette of compelling symbolic images combined to create a very diverse and very moving body of paintings. His focus ranged from the regionalist work of his youth to the symbolism and abstraction of his later years. But there is a common thread in all of his work: the regionalist paintings have a slight surrealist tinge, and the abstract paintings contain a solid natural thematic core.
Murals
Portsmouth, Ohio - Post Office: Characteristic Local Scenes in Portsmouth
