Paul Clemens

The Gallery Seeks artwork by Paul Clemens: info@GalleryofWisconsinArt.com

BORN: October 29, 1911, Superior, WI

DIED: 1992, Sherman Oaks, CA

Paul Clemens was born in Superior, Wisconsin on October 29, 1911.  The family later moved to Milwaukee where he met and wed his wife Ruth.  Clemens studied at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, under Roland Stebbins, Oskar Hagen and Arthur Colt and graduated in 1932. He went on to study at the Art Institute of  Chicago.  

Around 1936 Clemens began creating original lithographs and from 1938 through 1945 he was the only American artist who was seriously devoting all his creative energies to the subject of sports. Some of his more famous paintings devoted to this subject matter are: (baseball) Casey at the Bat, a series of four paintings in the Memorial Union U.W. Madison, and a 1938 Federal Art Project painting titled, In the Dugout.  He also completed paintings and lithographs about football, auto and horse racing.

He was based in Milwaukee when he exhibited on Treasure Island in 1939. He began painting for the Depression-era Works Progress Administration and won several awards for figure painting, which he taught at Otis Art Institute. His awards were won at the Milwaukee Art Institute and the National Academy of Design.  

In 1940, Clemens left Milwaukee and settled in Sherman Oaks, California. He may be best known for his portraits of film stars including Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Audrey Hepburn, William Holden, Frank Sinatra, Henry Fonda, Eleanor Parker  (who played the Baroness in The Sound of Music), Ronald Colman, Angela Lansbury, Jane Wyman (Ronald Reagan’s first wife) and many more. However, Clemens’ favorite model was his wife Ruth, who was also a painter, ceramist and a teacher at the Milwaukee Vocational School.

After WWII he began producing fine lithographs of city scenes and landscapes to emphasize a serious interest in social problems. Clemens spent the summer of 1949 in Europe and upon his return he spent time in Milwaukee painting the portrait of Mrs. James Porter of Fox Point. His work had the romantic ambiance, delicate hues and luminous quality of 19th century French painters and critics often referred to Clemens as “the American Renoir.” His portrait work brought him numerous commissions from Life Magazine.

He lived in Beverly Hills, California and spent most of his lengthy career in the Los Angeles area.

Sources: AskArt, Jean Ershler Schatz
Obituary in Los Angeles Times
Who's Who in American Art, R.R. Bowker 1962