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This unfinished sketch of a woman in a black hat is painted on a thinly gessoed canvas, in the direct manner typical of late 19th century painters who had been exposed to the methods of French artists such as Gustave Courbet and Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran; the ex-patriot artist, John Singer Sargent; and the Americans Frank Duveneck and William Merritt Chase, to name a few. These artists prized spontaneity and composition over labored and meticulous preparatory sketches, and, in portrait painting, sought to capture the essence of a personality over meticulous rendering of detail.
Here, the face of the seated Mrs. Smith, her large black hat with a red flower, and her red collar, are the only built up areas of the painting. Her arms and hands dissolve in her lap, and there are but mere compositional suggestions in the background, which include an urn with flowers, and the corner of a room.
Born in Bellport, New York in 1870, Walter Granville Smith was an illustrator as well as a fine art painter. Before his Parisian sojourn, which included painting at the Academie Julian, Smith studied at the Art Students League in New York with Carroll Beckwith, William Metcalf and Walter Satterlee. Upon his return to New York, he exhibited at and became a member of the National Academy of Design, the National Arts Club, and Grand Central Galleries. He won numerous medals, including ones from The Art Institute of Chicago, the Worchester Art Museum, The Toledo Museum of Art, and the Salmagundi Club, among others.
Smith primarily supported himself and his family through his illustrations, which appeared in numerous publications, including Harper's and Scribner's magazines. Many of his charming genre scenes owe much to the precision and realism of his experience as an illustrator.
Smith's paintings are in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, The Butler Institute of American Art, The Henry Art Gallery, The Columbus Museum of Art, and the New-York Historical Society.
The identity of the sitter as Smith's wife was established by an old receipt from Bruce McDougal, of Newcastle, Maine, who obtained the information directly from the artist. Walter Granville Smith died in 1938 in Granville, New York.
The painting has been recently cleaned and small losses in-painted. Care was taken not to in-paint in areas untouched by the artist.
The painting is housed in a gilt art nouveau style frame. |
