Original Cottonwood Sculpture carved by: John Louis Clarke Cutapuis (Man Who Speaks Not) 1881-1970 Due to advances in making molds for bronzing the original cottonwood sculpture carved by Clarke, a limited number of bronzes are being cast. This casting is number 41 of 100. About the Artist John Louis Clarke was born in Highwood, Montana on May 10, 1881. Clarke's Parents were early pioneers of the area. At the age of two he was stricken with scarlet fever, which left him permanently mute. His education began in 1894 at the North Dakota School for the Deaf at Devil's Lake, North Dakota, and later at the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind at Boulder, Montana and the St. John's School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Clarke often signed his works with the Blackfeet name, CUTAPUIS, which means MAN WHO TALKS NOT	Fighting Bulls
		Signed and Numbered
	Back view
During his youth the Clarke family moved to the forested, mountainous country around Midvale, Montana, the site of the present day town of East Glacier Park. Here Clarke first became familiar with the numerous wild animals of the area, which he has featured in all the carvings and paintings created during his long and successful career. In 1913, after he completed his schooling Clarke returned to Montana and permanently settled in Midvale where he built the log cabin studio and worked and visitors viewed and purchased his art. His earliest carvings met with immediate success and with his initial public exhibition in 1916 Clarke's works were first acquired by important collectors. From 1917to 1935 he regularly exhibited his carvings in annual exhibitions of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Charles Marion Russell, the famed western artist of the Great Falls, Montana, became a close friend and admirer of Clarke. During the 1930's Clarke received several important commissions for large-scale carved panels to embellish public buildings and in 1940 he executed two relief panels in wood for the entrance of the new Museum of the Plains Indian and Crafts Center in Browning, Montana.  Clarke's International re-known as a Montana woodcarver, is a tribute to his many achievements. By overcoming tremendous personal handicaps in his youth, his varied creative accomplishments in the arts have inspired numerous Indian artists of the Northern Plains, and the area today hosts a number of talented Indian carvers. Clarke continued to carve and paint daily in his small studio creating fresh interpretations of his life-long silent partners, the untamed animals of Montana' vast forests and majestic mountains 57 years, until he died. John Clarke died in Cut Bank, Montana in 1970. John gained an International reputation for his sensitivity executing lively woodcarvings of bears, mountain goats and other wild life of Montana's Glacier National Park area. Collectors and visitors from throughout the world have acquired and admired his art and still do to this day.  He was the Grandson of Malcolm Clarke, an entrepreneurial pioneer murdered by the piegans, and son of Horace Clarke who lived on the Blackfoot lands  "In whatever he did, John Clarke's intensity belied the odds that faced him throughout his life." One person more than any other has kept John Clarke's life and works from being forgotten. Clarke's adopted daughter, Joyce Marie, turned his studio into the John L. Clarke Western Art Gallery and Memorial Museum near Glacier Park Lodge. Today it remains a fitting tribute to this master carver. For information on the availability of a Fighting Bull Bronze, contact: Dale Johnson at: lucretiasj@yahoo.com John L. Clarke (1881 - 1970) John L. Clarke was born on May 10, 1881 to Horace and First Kills, the daughter of Blackfeet Chief Stands Alone. He was raised in the Highwood area, near Great Falls where smallpox and scarlet fever were endemic, taking the lives of five of John's brothers. John contracted scarlet fever when he was two years old, leaving him deaf and unable to speak. As a teen, John attended the Montana School for the Deaf in Boulder where he took his first carving class. Years later he recalled; " When I was a boy I first used mud that was solid or sticky enough from anyplace I could find it. While I attended Boulder School for the Deaf, there was a carving class. This was my first experience in carving. I carve because I take great pleasure in making what I see that is beautiful. When I see an animal I feel the wish to create it in wood as near as possible." Clarke finished his formal education at St. John's School for the Deaf in Wisconsin. In 1913, John returned to live with his father on the east side of Glacier. With its impressive library, their home attracted artists, writers, and musicians including Mary Roberts Rinehart and Joseph Sharp. Four years later, Clarke exhibited a carving at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Bolstered by its reception, Clarke began working in a small studio near Swiftcurrent Falls. Louis Hill was so impressed with Clarke's talent that he commissioned wooden bears for the bases of the table lamps used in his lodges. He also purchased 100 small carvings of goats to sell in hotel gift shops. In 1918, Clarke married Mary "Mamie" Peters Simon who became an invaluable business manager, acting as his interpreter, press secretary, and correspondent. Shortly after he married, John received a letter from Charlie Russell responding to his letter about how to sell his carvings. Years later Mamie discussed their friendship: "His visits were of greatest possible moments to John. Although at first greeting John invariably told Mr. Russell (Indian sign language -- of which he too was very good), "Let us exchange heads, yours is fine." Then (Mr. Russell) would laugh and tell John, "Yours too is good." Mr. Russell would then look at all of my husband's work, sculpture and landscape (oil) and praise it, encouraging just enough and not too much. He was so understanding, deeply sympathetic and in all wholly lovable." Galleries in New York, Boston, London, and Paris exhibited Clarke's woodcarvings. Collectors included Warren G. Harding, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Louis Hill, and Charlie Russell. Clarke won a gold medal from the American Art Academy in 1918, and exhibited at the 1934 Chicago World's Fair.Clarke's reputation as a wood carver drew artists from across the country and Europe to his modest studio. Students watched with great interest as he expertly carved mountain goats, bears, big horn sheep, and grizzlies from blocks of wood.

Page design and photos by Phil Delucchi

Revised 12/1/2002 6:04 PM