My grandma's art. Mary F. Clifford- 1922-2020.
Mary F. Clifford
1922-2020
Back in June (2020) my Grandma Mary Clifford passed away, she was 98. She was my favorite grand parent and she was a big inspiration to me artistically. She was an incredibly prolific artist, she made art daily for 70+ years. She produced incredible work with any medium available. I grew up admiring her work and attention to detail. Mary was an interesting lady and Im always amazed by the parallels in our work- its like I inherited an art gene from her.
After she died I went to California to help my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Scott move the contents of Mary’s house into storage. It was nice to be able to comb through her work and artifacts that she left behind.
I remember asking Mary if she ever worried about messing up one of her paintings while she was working on it- “what do you do if you make a mistake?” Her response was “there are no mistakes in art, if you dont like whats on the canvas, paint over it and try again”
“Mary is a native Texan, born in Dallas. She attended the Art School at the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts and then chose a profession in commercial art and advertising specializing in graphics. She owned and operated an Art Agency in Houston for ten years, designing and copywriting for newspapers and national magazines. Mary Moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she lived for seven years. It was during this period that time was available to devote to a fine arts career. After returning to Houston, her paintings were exhibited in a number of one-man shows…”
“Doodles” / Pen & Ink
Here’s an example of the unstoppable-ness of Mary- she fell and broke her dominant wrist when she was 94. It was a bad break, and we were certain she’d never be able to doodle again, and we were nervous that without art she’d loose the will to live and die. When she got home from the hospital Mary started doodling with her left hand. eventually her right hand fully healed and she started using it again. In the last ten years of her life she produced over 5,000 one-page-sharpie-doodles. I went to california to help me Aunt move the contents of my grandmas house into storage and I personally went through all 5000 doodles. The doodles are loose pages stacked in boxes, as you go through the stacks you can see changes in her doodling form, subjects, patterns. There are some pages with question marks, we assume these point to her decline in memory. I went through all 5000 doodles because i wanted to see the first day she went left handed and the progression as she continued to work and defy the odds.
Paintings
These are some of my favorite oil paintings by my grandma. She loved Paris, Galveston, and New Orleans, Art Nouveau, Architecture, still lifes, cats, and fashion. But the details are what pull me in- every time I look deep into her work I discover new things.
This painting is Gigantic, its 5 or 6 feet tall.
My Aunt Lisa and Uncle Scott and I have begun the process of building a website for all of Mary’s work. Additionally they are planning a retrospective art show at the Galveston Historical Society next winter 2021. When Mary was alive she never wanted to put her work online because she thought that it would get stolen- it probably will, but now that she’s not here to protest, we can finally do something with the work that she left behind.
Here are some excerpts from my Grandma’s book ‘Mary Clifford Lazzari paints Victorian Galveston’.
Artist’s Comments-
“I love the sea, the Gulf Coast, and Victorian Architecture. Galveston is an island in the sea, off the Gulf Coast of Texas that possesses an almost endless trove of Victorian houses and buildings. As an artist, I found this combination irresistible and set about to record it in oil paintings, watercolors, and ink drawings.
This book barely scratches the surface of the subjects available for reproduction; but with the blessing of time, good eyesight, and an active right hand, I plan to record many, many, more. I know of no other place in the United States where one can walk miles and view authentic nineteenth century homes, side by side… sometimes ten to a block! These treasures should be seen on foot, as it is impossible in many cases to see through the lush foreground greenery of trees, vines, and prolific Oleander bushes from a car. To appreciate the beauty of these houses, one must leisurely walk, stop, and study the details of the houses….From the “widow’a walks’ on the rooftops, the decorated fascias, Bargeboards, gallery railings, long stairs…to the ornate wrought- or cast- iron fences that encase and enhance the narrow lots.
I have never studied architecture and make no pretense of being a draftsman. I see, draw, and paint these structures as an artist; intrigued by the angles of the eaves, turrets, cupolas, shutters, and the play of light and shadow on the lacey woodwork. The distortion of perspective is one of my personal pleasures. being partial to the ‘frame’ house, I have concentrated my work on the more ‘modest homes,’ showing only a few of the masonry mansions and fine buildings which merit a different style or rendering. Without the intent of offending any current occupant…I paint these houses, not always as they stand today. I purposely denude them of asbestos siding, aluminum shutters, jutting window air-conditioning units, and television aerials. In my mind’s eye, the original dignity and beauty of these old homes upstage the sometimes necessary modern ‘evils’. On occasion, an astute resident may detect a tree, bush, or cat that shouldn’t necessarily be in that particular spot. Often a house is re-painted in a different color after I have completed a picture. The people in the illustrations are purely fictitious, and are placed there to create an aura of the past. I employ the poets privilege of license, but basically the details are authentic…The structures easily identifiable.
If this endeavor labels me a ‘hopeless romantic,’ I invite you to join me in my happy state of euphoria and take a walk through ‘Victorian Galveston.’
I hope this graphic pairing of an artist’s imagination and reality is a pleasant memoir to the aged, of current interest to the middle-aged, and encouragement to the young of today, and their children of tomorrow to preserve this legacy of Galveston Island. This important part of out Texas heritage and our nation’s history.”