Joseph Clark, A Popular Victorian Artist and His World

This book helps to overcome some of the misconceptions identified by Jane Oakley through a study of the life and work of Joseph Clark ROI (1834-1926). It demonstrates how his work responded to his family life, his deep religious faith, changing fashions in the art world and new technologies to enlarge the audience for his art. He drew on his West Country roots in Cerne Abbas; and adult life in Christchurch, Winchester, Haselbury Plucknet and London to create many popular genre paintings of everyday life as well as some portraits, landscapes and works inspired by national events. In all he exhibited over 200 paintings at the Royal Academy, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters and International Exhibitions over six decades between 1857 and 1916. His work reached huge audiences through the rapid growth of illustrated newspapers and magazines - and new ways of producing inexpensive prints. His experience of the art world illuminates that of the growing numbers of professional artists who contributed so much to popular culture in the decades leading up to the First World War.