September 7, 2008 - January 7, 2009

Presented with the support of

ArtsinStark
The Belden Brick Charitable Trust
Mr. & Mrs. Theodore Boyd
Jeanne & Ronald Cullen
Thomas W. Darling
The Hoover Foundation
The William L. Luntz Family Philanthropic Fund
Wanda Miller
Evan & Suzanne Morris
Marty & Suzanne O'Brien
Ohio Arts Council
Mr. & Mrs. Fred Olivieri
Bob & Lesa Schnabel
Marilyn Kauff Sharidan
Mike & Nancy Siddall
The Stark Community Foundation
Lazar & Mary Ann Tarzan
The Repository
The Vindicator
Bill & Sue Wise

Clyde Singer’s America is a collaboration between Ohio’s Canton Museum of Art and the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown. Clyde Singer, an artist of the American Scene who studied under the tutelage of Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry, captured the essence of the American pageant throughout his career. His paintings grasped the vitality of both urban and rural scenes, revealing intimate, humorous and insightful observations of people working, going shopping, chatting in bars, waiting for the subway train, or playing ball. Singer enriched the lives of many throughout eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania not only through art, but also as curator and assistant director at the Butler Institute, and as an art columnist for the Youngstown Vindicator for almost sixty years.

This collaboration between the two museums will produce a simultaneous two-part exhibition, and most significantly, a definitive publication dedicated to the life and work of Clyde Singer.  This effort to shine the spotlight on Singer’s works is spearheaded by Executive Directors M. J. Albacete in Canton and Dr. Louis M. Zona at the Butler, and organized by the CMA’s Curator/Registrar Lynnda Arrasmith. The museums are already at work researching and selecting works for the exhibition, scheduled for September 9, 2008 to January 9, 2009. The catalogue, which will feature three or four essays by Zona, Albacete and others will be completed in advance of the exhibition. A descriptive video, including an interview with Singer conducted by Zona, will also be prepared for the exhibition.

Singer’s works are to be found in many Ohio art museum collections, and some have found their way into prestigious collections such as the Philadelphia Academy, the San Diego Art Museum, and others.  The Butler Institute and the CMA both have many of the artists finest works.  An even greater number of Clyde Singer paintings are in private and corporate collections.  Singer never kept a record of his paintings, and so there is no way to tell just how many were produced over his long artistic career, nor where most of these are to be found. Arrasmith, coordinating with Rebecca Davis and the Butler’s curatorial staff, has already located and reviewed hundreds of works and is developing a preliminary exhibition checklist of approximately 100 works to be displays between both museums.

A 160-page book, Clyde Singer’s America, will be published in the Summer of 2008 by Kent State University Press.