James Clark’s working life spanned the last half of the nineteenth century and the first part of the second. His style adjusted to the trends of contemporary painting and illustration, with a traditional bent. Sometimes this involved subtle shifts of colour palette and atmosphere. His subjects range from the Victorian drawing room staples to those created by the turbulent war-time events of the new century. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Society of British Artists, the New Watercolour Society and the New English Art Club, of which he was a member.