| 'The
distinguished British artist' John Cosmo Clark published
his war correspondence from the First World War, when
he was involved in the trial of a British soldier which
ended with the latter's execution. Captain Clark was
the 'prisoner's friend' who represented Stevenson who
faced court martial. 'Clark later became a distinguished
artist but he was wholly unqualified'. His sketches
'remind us of war's humanity: shell-shocked faces, the
wounded on stretchers, the boredom of waiting, the joys
of a cigarette, the generosity of townspeople'. Cosmo
Clark was a Royal Academician, married to Jean Clark.
Both were members of the New English Art Club Watercolour
Society. Both were prolific artists, with Cosmo finding
time to make sketches whilst soldiering in France in
the First World War. Several paintings of both of them
were to be sold in aid of The Bishop's Lent Call in
2003. 'Cosmo Clark painted a portrait of T.E. Lawrence
(of Arabia) and achieved his greatest success with a
series of London pub paintings, during' the Second World
War.
See
- Clark, Cosmo, The Tin Trunk - Letters and Drawings
1914-1918, 2000
- Bankside Gallery, Retrospective Exhibition,
Cosmo Clark 1897-1967, Jean Clark, 1902, 1983
Information collated from: Putkowski, J.,
'Shot at Dawn: Pte. Stevenson & Captain Cosmo
Clark', http://www.ku.edu/carrie/archives/wwi-1/2001/01/msg00123.html,
written January 16 2001, accessed October 3 2003;
Reviewer from Suffolk, UK, 'Tin Trunk , The Letters
and Drawings 1914-1918, http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0953979903/ref=sr_aps_books_1_1/026…,
accessed October 3 2003; Diocese of Southwark, 'The
Bridge, March 2003 - The Bishop's Lent Call 2003',
http://www.dswark.org/bridge/0303/page11.htm,
accessed October 3 2003; Thistlefineart.com, 'Clark,
John Cosmo - oil on canvas', http://www.thistlefineart.com/Clark.htm,
accessed October 3 2003.
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