Maynard Clark

"It's strange. I think back, and all the things that I did, making documentaries and all that sort of thing, have been very valuable for me now. My photography and all that getting around has helped."

Maynard Clark was born in Charleston, West Virginia in 1919, the son of Harold (Hal) Hewitt Clark and Sara Maynard Clark, who were both photographers and writers as well. He grew up in Bucks County after the family moved to the New Hope area in 1933 and attended the Solebury School. At one point his father Hal rented the studio of artist Edward Redfield in Center Bridge and he also served as president of the Delaware Valley Protective Association for over 30 years. Maynard would go on to live in the Doylestown area for a number of years, after the family moved there in 1947, eventually moving to Wales, Wisconsin in 1997.

After serving in World War II as a flight officer with the United States Air Force, he became interested in aerial photography. It was photography that Clark would take up as a career, working as a professional photographer with works published in magazines such as Time, Life, Saturday Evening Post, and Collier's, from the late 1940s to the late 1960s. Clark was responsible for about 40-50 cover shots for Time magazine, including photographs of figures such as Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, and Nehru. He was known in the Pennsylvania region though for his photographs of noted personalities in the Bucks County area, primarily at the Bucks County Playhouse, and many of these photographs have been exhibited at the .Michener Art Museum. Subjects of his photographs included artists such as Lloyd Ney, Harry Rosin, Charles Child (twin brother of Paul Child, the husband of Julia Child), and Harry Haenigsen. He also photographed well-known performers and playwrights like Edward Everett Horton, George F. Kaufman, Moss Hart, and Paul Whiteman.

After working as a photographer for Time and Life for about seventeen years, Clark pursued a career in film-making, creating an award-winning documentary. He even started a business with a partner making industrial films and more documentaries. Later in his life, after retirement, he would become involved in screenwriting and puppetry.

Connection toBucks County
He spent the majority of his life in Bucks County after his family moved to New Hope in 1933. His family was very involved in the area. His father, Hal Clark, was a Bucks County conservationist and his mother, Sara Maynard Clark, a prominent photographer and writer.

After serving in World War II, he would go on to become a prominent Bucks County photographer, known for his photographs of notable Bucks County personalities, the Bucks County Playhouse, as well as his aerial shots of the Bucks County countryside.

Collection
Michener Art Museum

Select Group Exhibitions
Life in the Valley, Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 1994

Local Mill Makes Good: Celebrating 75 Years of American Theater at the Bucks County Playhouse, Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 2013

Teaching & Professional Appointments
Photographer for the following magazines: Time (appointed for 17 years), Life (also appointed for 17 years), Saturday Evening Post, Collier's