subject is integrated in time, space and architecture. In terms of configuration she takes inspiration from Cézanne – the balancing of form, his structured and measured employment of the paint on the canvas. In Portrait of Philip for example, the artist creates a complex but very balanced pattern of parallel and perpendicular lines within the stable square of the canvas, containing and supporting the cool, appraising, sartorial figure of her husband. Space is constructed in such a way that the spectator looks down into the picture, and down at the figure of Philip in the deep, perspectively distorted chair, yet meets the glance of the man eyes to eye. Petroushka In Petroushka, Clark creates a seemingly innocent scene of street entertainers; it was painted as an outranged response to newspaper reports of the killing of five striking steelworkers by Chicago police in the summer of 1937. She chose to adapt the story of Petrushka (the Peter puppet and symbol of suffering humanity within Russian tradition) to a North American context. Clark spoke out about the role and responsibility of the artist; she declared: "Those who give their lives, their knowledge and their time to social struggle have the right to expect great help from the artist. And I cannot imagine a more inspiring role than that which the artist is asked to play for the defence and advancement of civilization". Political influences Clark's early financial challenges in her pursuit of the arts, because of her working class Russian parents and the revolution in her home country, contributed to her belief in the responsibility of artists to depict class struggle and other social issues in their work. She criticized the work of those such as the Group of Seven which lacked reference to real world issues; she showed more reverence for her peers who were dedicated to creating "socially conscious Canadian art", including Pegi Nicol MacLeod, editor of the Canadian Forum from 1935-1936, who introduced Clark to the noted anti-fascist Dr. Norman Bethune in 1936. Bethune and Clark had a brief affair; the relationship had an influence on the latter's politics. A socialist, a self-identified "red Russian" communist, and one of the few artists producing political art in Canada at the time, Clark at this point became active in the Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy. The Second World War left the artist concerned for her homeland, and she was quite active