Paraskeva Clark (October 28, 1898 – August 10, 1986) was a Canadian painter. Her work is often political as she believed that "an artist must act as a witness to class struggle and other societal issues." She was a member of the Canadian Group of Painters, the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, Canadian Society of Graphic Art, the Ontario Society of Artists, and the Royal Canadian Academy (1966). Much of her art now is in the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario. Early life Clark was born Paraskeva Avdeyevna Plistik in St. Petersburg, Russia, the first daughter of Avdey Plistik and Olga Fedorevna. She was the eldest of the couple's three children and was given four years more schooling than most girls of the time. Her extended education can be attributed to both her father who instilled in her his enjoyment of books and learning and to her mother who made artificial flowers to supplement the family's income. After graduating school in 1914, Clark worked as a clerk in a shoe factory where her father had been previously employed before owning his own grocery store. Clark's mother died of pneumonia in when Clark was 17, a year after her youngest child had graduated. Enjoying the theatre as a young woman, Clark was initially interested in acting but deterred by the financial expense of training. After encouragement from her coworker Elza Brahmin, Clark attended evening classes at the Petrograd Academy of Fine Arts from 1916 into 1918, at which time the school was closed while changes were made in the art-education program after the October 1917 revolution. The school was reopened as the tuition-free Free Art Studios, and Clark was admitted and given a stipend. She left in 1921 and was recruited among other students to paint sets for theatres. It was in this work that she met Oreste Allegri Jr., an Italian scene painter whom she would marry in 1922. In March of the following year they had a son, Benedict, and they made plans to emigrate to France. Unfortunately Oreste drowned in the summer of 1923 before their plans could be carried out, and Clark and her son Benedict left for the Allegri family home in Paris by themselves in the fall. The Allegris were well connected in the art world, and Clark met many artists through them – including Pablo Picasso. She