Clarence Erasmus Shepard

Clarence Erasmus Shepard was born on October 27, 1869, in the rural town of Cortland, New York. After spending his youth in Clay Center, Kansas, Shepard decided to study architecture at the University of California-Berkeley. To pay for college tuition, Shepard sold baskets collected from Native American makers to the Field Museum in Chicago. At the time, most Native American peoples had been forcibly displaced by the U.S. government, while major museums were established to exhibit their cultural artifacts as natural history. Shepard continued collecting for the rest of his life, interested particularly in Native American basketry and Middle Eastern rugs. 

After graduating from college, Clarence Shepard moved to Chicago and began working for the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright, with a group of other architects, developed a new aesthetic approach called "Prairie Style." Their buildings emphasized low, horizontal lines and minimal geometric shapes, echoing the vast landscapes of the American Midwest. Shepard would later apply these principles to develop neighborhoods in Kansas City. 

Clarence Shepard moved to Kansas City in 1907 after his marriage to Nella Kendall and the birth of their daughter. He taught courses at the Kansas City Art Institute while practicing as an independent architect. Shepard worked with many local firms, but his most significant partnership was with the J. C. Nichols Realty Company. Nichols aimed to develop profitable and exclusive neighborhoods by appealing to affluent white buyers. Shepard used Prairie Style architecture and floral landscaping to help Nichols craft a lush suburbia cloistered away from the growing city. Shepard won prestigious awards for his designs, and today several of his homes are registered historic places.

Clarence Shepard shifted his focus from architecture to painting during the later years of his career. He began frequently exhibiting oil paintings at the Kansas City Art Institute and with the Kansas City Society of Artists, of which he was president for two years. He mounted solo exhibitions and delivered lectures on modern art. Shepard organized a group exhibition that he described as the "climax of his painting experience" (Kansas City Star, May 1, 1949). Clarence Shepard's creative legacy is still felt today through the buildings he designed and the landscapes he captured on canvas. Shepard died in 1949 in Kansas City, Kansas.