James E. Clarke III

Born in Williamsburg, Virginia, James “Sonny” Clarke, III was a self-made artist in an era when African-American artists stood outside the mainstream. Renowned for his stylized figures— oversized eyes, enlarged hands and feet, misshapen limbs—Clarke’s paintings are powerful evocations of a tumultuous era. His work was highly in demand, and showed at galleries in New York, Washington D.C., and in Europe.