MSU Libraries art exhibition honors North Mississippi impressionist painter Kate Freeman Clark

“Mill Pond, Moors Mill,” an oil painting by Holly Springs native Kate Freeman Clark, is pictured on an easel in MSU's John Grisham Room. — “Mill Pond, Moors Mill,” an oil painting by Holly Springs native Kate Freeman Clark, is part of the “En Plein Air” exhibition on display through the month of October in the John Grisham Room at ��Ƶ’s Mitchell Memorial Library. (Photo submitted)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A nationally renowned North Mississippi painter’s interpretations of New York’s diverse landscapes and cityscapes are the focus of a public exhibition at ��Ƶ’s Mitchell Memorial Library.

Now through the month of October, MSU Libraries is hosting “En Plein Air,” featuring eight impressionist paintings by Kate Freeman Clark. These selected works are among a collection of 1,200 paintings housed at the Kate Freeman Clark Art Gallery in the artist’s hometown of Holly Springs.

Students, faculty and staff, as well as art enthusiasts and members of the public, can view the exhibition in the John Grisham Room on the library’s third floor. Viewing hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. A virtual gallery talk is being planned for later in the semester.

Born in 1875 in Marshall County, Freeman Clark was inspired to begin her artistic career after visiting the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. She studied with Impressionist William Merritt Chase, founder of what is now the Parsons School of Design, first at the Art Students League in New York City and then at Chase’s Shinnecock Hills Summer School of Art on eastern Long Island, where Freeman Clark mastered the technique of painting “en plein air,” or outdoors.

Freeman Clark spent most of her career in New York City, exhibiting widely across the Northeast. She occasionally signed her paintings as “Freeman Clark” to avoid discrimination due to her gender. Her last exhibition was at the Men’s Club of New York in 1918.

Freeman Clark left the art world and returned in 1924 to Holly Springs, residing there until her death in 1957.

Jennifer McGillan, MSU Libraries coordinator of manuscripts, said the paintings on display at MSU’s Mitchell Memorial Library reflect the light and dark polarities of Freeman Clark’s artistic interests.

Speaking on behalf of the Kate Freeman Clark Trust’s Board of Trustees, Kate Freeman Clark Art Gallery Director Walter Webb expressed gratitude for MSU administration and staff who made it possible to share these paintings with the university and local communities.

“Our mission is to restore and preserve the more than 1,000 drawings and paintings housed in the gallery and to enhance Kate’s recognition as an important American impressionist painter,” Webb said. “We especially thank Jennifer McGillan, who conceived the idea for this exhibition at MSU two years ago and has worked diligently to make it happen.”

For more information about Freeman Clark’s life, career and art gallery in Holly Springs, visit .

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