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Ed Clark was born in the Storyville section of New Orleans.  His family moved to Chicago when he was eight years old.  After serving in the Air Force during World War II, he enrolled in the school of the Art Institute of Chicago using funding provided by the G.I. Bill.  In 1952, he moved to Paris and studied at the L’Academie de la Grande Chaumière.  Paris in the mid-1950s was home to many American artists and writers where Clark developed lifelong friendships during his stay, before returning to the U.S. in 1957.

In the late 1960s, Clark’s primary motif was the oval, an abstract arc of color.  Sometimes the oval appears as one, sometimes in pairs, yet the form always dominated the picture plane.  These images became Clarks’ trademark and were the central focus of his work for about 20 years, and sporadically since then.