The Clark Brothers of Cooperstown

Brothers Sterling and Stephen Clark, heirs to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune, grew up in Cooperstown, New York. They amassed two of the most important collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and early Modern painting. While both brothers shared a love of great art, their individual preferences and collecting habits varied a great deal. The siblings, close in their young years, quarreled over the disposition of their inheritance—and their relationship was severed forever. Each of the brothers, however, would go on to build a great, individual art collection.