Oil on canvas (lined), signed at lower right, circa 1925-1926, presented in a later gilt frame.

Stretcher size 28 x 25 1/4 in.; Frame dimensions 35 x 32 in.

Exhibited:
Washington, D.C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Gladys Nelson Smith, 1984-1985, No. 8

Gladys Nelson Smith was born on a farm near Chelsea, Kansas. The fourth of ten children, her family supported her desire to pursue the study of art. In 1918 she received her bachelor of painting degree from the University of Kansas, Lawrence. She continued her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Students League in New York, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

A talented American impressionist, Smith was a sought after portrait artist and well known for her tender depictions of mothers and children. She and her husband settled in Washington, D.C. where she maintained a skylit studio in a carriage house in the city’s bohemian “Latin Quarter.” She was active in several local art groups, including the Art League of Washington and Society of Washington Artists.

In 1985, The Corcoran Gallery of Art mounted a posthumous retrospective exhibition of her work. Her paintings are in numerous private and public collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Butler Institute of Art, Youngstown, Ohio; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia; and The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Small area of retouch to sitter's neck; area of retouch to proper left of sitter's head (likely an old tear that necessitated the lining).

$4,000 - 6,000