Clarke, Shirley, 1919-1997

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Born in New York, Shirley Clarke first made waves as a dancer studying with modern choreographers like Martha Graham, Hanya Holm, and Doris Humphrey. In early short films, such as A Dance in the Sun (1953), Bullfight (1955), and Bridges Go Round (1958), she successfully fused her interests in choreography and cinema. Subsequent feature films The Connection (1961), The Cool World (1964), and Portrait of Jason (1967) were landmarks of independent cinema, charting an uncompromising path through controversial subject matter. Her portrait of the poet Robert Frost, Robert Frost: A Lover's Quarrel with the World (1963) won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Her final feature, Ornette: Made in America (1985), is another portrait, this time of the jazz musician Ornette Coleman.

Clarke was also a social organizer, co-founding the Film-Makers Cooperative and Film-Makers Distribution Center with Jonas Mekas in New York, and later the Tee Pee Videospace Troupe. She was the recipient of many awards and retrospectives, and from 1975 to 1985 taught film and video production at the University of California, Los Angeles. She died in Boston in 1997.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Study collection, [ca. 1900-1985], 1950-1985 (bulk) New York State Historical Documents Inventory
creatorOf Clarke, Shirley. Datebook, 1955-1956. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Serious Business Company records, 1965-1983, bulk 1972-1983 Bancroft Library
referencedIn Paik, Nam June, 1932-2006. Picturephone performance [videorecording] / Nam June Paik ; edited by John Jebb. Getty Research Institute
referencedIn Serious Business Company. Serious Business Company records, 1965-1983 (bulk 1972-1983). UC Berkeley Libraries
referencedIn Lothar and Eva Just Film Stills Collection. Harvard Film Archive, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
creatorOf Clarke, Shirley, 1919-1997. Four journeys into mystic time [videorecording] / Shirley Clarke. Getty Research Institute
referencedIn Paik, Nam June, 1932-2006. Picturephone performance [videorecording] / Nam June Paik ; edited by John Jebb. Getty Research Institute
referencedIn Film stills collection, [ca. 1920-1970], [ca. 1960-1970] (bulk). New York State Historical Documents Inventory
referencedIn Papers of Robert Graves: Lectures and speeches, 1958 to 1973 St John's College, Oxford
creatorOf Clarke, Shirley, 1919-1997. [Interview with Shirley Clarke for student cable show] [videorecording] / [production company unknown] Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
creatorOf Clarke, Shirley, 1919-1997. Papers, 1936-1983. Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
referencedIn [Interview with Shirley Clarke] [motion picture] / [production company unknown] Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
creatorOf Clarke, Shirley, 1919-1997. Trans [videorecording] : excerpt from Four journeys into mystic time / Shirley Clarke. Getty Research Institute
creatorOf Clarke, Shirley, 1919-1997. [Shirley Clarke home movies] [motion picture] Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
referencedIn Jordan, June, 1936-2002. Papers, 1936-2002 (inclusive), 1954-2002 (bulk). Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America‏
creatorOf Clarke, Shirley, 1919-1997. Shirley Clarke compilation [videorecording]. Getty Research Institute
creatorOf Shirley Clarke datebook, 1955-1956 The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.
Collection of Shirley Clarke materials Harvard Film Archive, Harvard College Library, Harvard University
creatorOf Clarke, Shirley, 1919-1997. [Conversations with Shirley Clarke] [videorecording] / producer, Kinney Littlefield. Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
referencedIn [Shirley Clarke interviewed by Joyce Wexler-Ballard] [videorecording] / [production company unknown] Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
referencedIn [Shirley eating] [videorecording] / Shirley Clarke. Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
creatorOf Clarke, Shirley, 1919-1997. [The first years--excerpts] [videorecording] / Shirley Clarke. Getty Research Institute
creatorOf Clarke, Shirley. Miscellaneous manuscripts. New York Public Libraries for the Performing Arts, Dance Collection
creatorOf Clarke, Shirley, 1919-1997. The box [videorecording] / Shirley Clarke. Getty Research Institute
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Anthology Film Archives. corporateBody
associatedWith Bartlett, Freude person
parentOf Clarke, Wendy Mitman, 1962- person
associatedWith Filmmakers Distribution Center. corporateBody
associatedWith Frost, Robert, 1874-1963. person
associatedWith Graves, Robert Ranke, 1895-1985 person
associatedWith Jordan, June, 1936-2002. person
associatedWith Paik, Nam June, 1932-2006. person
associatedWith Serious Business Company. corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
New York City NY US
Subject
African Americans
Dance
Documentary films
Drug addicts
Experimental films
Independent filmmakers
Motion picture producers and directors
Motion pictures
Women in the motion picture industry
Occupation
Dancer
Filmmaker
Activity

Person

Birth 1919-10-02

Death 1997-09-23

Americans

English

Information

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Ark ID: w6n69df0

SNAC ID: 87979664