William H. Clapp (William Henry Clapp)

1879-1954

William H. Clapp was born in Montreal, Quebec, of American parents. The family moved back to the United States in 1885 and settled in Oakland, California, across the Bay from San Francisco. Clapp came back to Canada in 1900 and enrolled at the Art Association of Montreal where he studied under William Brymner. During this time he painted with Clarence Gagnon in St. Joachim and Baie St. Paul. In 1904, he left Canada and furthered his studies in Paris at the Académie Julian where he studied under Jean-Paul Laurens, Tony Robert-Fleury, Lucien Simon and William Laparra. He also took classes at Académie de la Grande Chaumière under Ernest Laurent and frequented the Académie Colarossi. At this time, Clapp mainly adopted the French Impressionists techniques, especially those of Camille Pissaro, and kept doing so for many years. While in Europe, Clapp also took the opportunity to travel and paint, notably in Belgium and Spain.

In 1908, Clapp came back to Montreal where he taught, painted and exhibited. He showed paintings at the Art Association of Montreal’s Spring Shows from 1908 to 1915, and again in 1918. He also took part in the Royal Canadian Academy’s annual show in 1904 and exhibited with them again from 1908 to 1916 and in 1918. It was during these exhibitions that the National Gallery of Canada acquired some of his works, first in 1908 for a work who won him the Jessie Dow Prize and then other purchases were made in 1914 and 1916. He was made an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1911 and he became a member of the Canadian Art Club in 1913, joining other well known Canadian artists such as Horatio Walker, Clarence Gagnon, Maurice Cullen, James W. Morrice and Homer Watson. In 1913, he also became a member of the Arts Club of Montreal and the Montreal Pen and Pencil Club.

Clapp exhibited works at Johnson’s Art Galleries in Montreal but critics weren’t sympathetic towards Clapp’s Impressionist style. In 1915, Clapp decided to leave Montreal and went to Cuba, where he stayed and painted until 1917. Following his stay in Cuba, he went to Oakland, California, where he abandoned, to some degree, his more radical French style. In the years leading to his departure for California, Clapp had already exhibited in the United States at the National Academy of Design, the Carnegie Institute and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Upon his arrival in Oakland in 1917, Clapp stayed in close contact with another Canadian artists living in California, his good friend Arthur Rozaire, who died prematurely in 1922 at the young age of 43. In 1918, Clapp became curator of the Oakland Art Gallery (now the Oakland Museum) and was named director in 1920, position he held until 1949. In 1923, he became a member of a well known group of California painters called the “Society of Six” and he showed his painting with the group until 1928. He also took up membership at the California Art Club, the Oakland Art League, the San Francisco Art Association (with whom he exhibited in 1918 and 1919) and the Western Association of Art Museum Directors (1926) for which he became president in 1928. For six years he gave art classes in Oakland at the school he operated, the Clapp School of Art.

 Clapp stayed in Oakland, California until he died in 1954 at age 75. In the years leading up to his death, he kept painting and exhibiting, notably at the Oakland Art Gallery in 1932, the Golden Gate International Exhibition in 1939 and at the Art Gallery of Toronto in 1937. Following his death, his works were part of a group show on the “Society of Six” held at the Oakland Museum in 1972.

Collections:

- National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON)
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, QC)
- Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Quebec City, QC)
- Oakland Museum (Oakland, CA, USA)
- Oklahoma City Museum of Art (Oklahoma City, OK, USA)
- Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, DC, USA)
- Utah Museum of Fine Arts (Salt Lake City, UT, USA)
- Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, ON)
- Art Gallery of Hamilton (Hamilton, ON)
- Art Gallery of Windsor (Windsor, ON)
- Ontario Provincial Government
- Library and Archives Canada (Ottawa, ON)
- Power Corporation of Canada (Montreal, QC)

Affiliations:

- Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy (1911)
- Canadian Art Club (1913)
- Arts Club of Montreal (1913)
- Montreal Pen and Pencil Club (1913)
- Society of Six (1923)
- California Art Club
- Oakland Art League,
- San Francisco Art Association
- Western Association of Art Museum Directors (1926)