George Henry Smillie Art
American, 1840-1921
The career of George Smillie followed the arc of nineteenth-century U.S. landscape painting. Trained in the Hudson River School tradition, Smillie successfully adapted to changing U.S. tastes and growing interest in European trends. In the late 1800s, he moved to tonalist paintings full of brushwork and influenced by French Barbizon painting. By the end of his career, he had lightened his palette to produce works similar to those of the U.S. impressionists. Yet in all styles, he was never less than competent, and his tonalist work is among the best produced in the United States.
Like many nineteenth-century painters, George Smillie’s artistic training began with the study of printing. His father, James Smillie, was a noted printmaker who engraved Hudson River landscapes. George studied briefly with James McDougal Hart and then opened a studio of his own in New York City. A critic in 1870 said that his realistic landscapes exhibited “a certain refinement” that “enhances the charm of his more quiet scenes.”
Smillie spent most of his career in New York City but sketched for several summers in New Hampshire, upstate New York, and Florida. In the early 1870s, George Smillie and his older brother (James Smillie, also an artist) ventured to the western United States to sketch. The trip inspired several paintings of the Rocky Mountains as well as some with Native American scenes observed from real life.
On the same trip, the Smillie brothers visited the Yosemite Valley in California. Access was difficult until the national park was established in 1890, and the brothers visited before the area’s features were well-known to European Americans. An oil painting by George Smillie of Half Dome in Yosemite sold for $42,000 in 2006.
George Smillie painted both in oils and in watercolor. He embraced a wide range of landscape subjects from quiet Connecticut meadows to rocky Massachusetts coastlines. He particularly liked painting the area around the shores of Long Island.
After a tour of Europe, however, George Smillie began painting moody tonalist landscapes with muted colors. He became fascinated with the changeability of the seasons and times of the day. In these works, Smillie often chose a dramatic viewpoint and mysterious lighting to add theatrical excitement to the scene.
During the 1890s, Smillie lived in southern Connecticut where he met the major U.S. impressionists. He soon changed his style again, now choosing a lighter palette and even looser brushwork. In 1906, the 66-year-old painter moved for the final time to Pondville Road in Bronxville, NY. He said of the area, “For the landscape painter there is enough to keep him busy here without going far afield for his subjects, and there is always inspiration among our beautiful trees and back lanes and old pastures.”(Biography provided by Helicline Fine Art)
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Artist: George Henry Smillie
Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley
By George Henry Smillie
Located in New York, NY
George Henry Smillie
Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite Valley, 1871
Signed and inscribed board verso "Cathedral Rocks-Morning-Yo-semite Valley Aug. 71 Geo. H. Smillie", also inscribed "Yo-se...
Category
1870s Academic George Henry Smillie Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Board
"An Old New England Orchard" original etching
By George Henry Smillie
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original etching. Executed in 1883; this is a rich, dark impression on heavy cream wove paper, from the "Original Etchings by American Artists" portfolio, published in 1883 b...
Category
1880s George Henry Smillie Art
Materials
Etching
Near Marblehead, Mass
By George Henry Smillie
Located in Milford, NH
A fine New England landscape with sheep grazing near Boston’s North Shore coast by American artist George Henry Smillie (1840-1921). Smillie was born in New York, son of engraver Jam...
Category
Late 19th Century George Henry Smillie Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Oil Landscape of Bronx River
By George Henry Smillie
Located in Fredericksburg, VA
George Henry Smillie was an American painter and etcher. He became a member of the National Academy of Design in 1882. He often painted both in oils and in water colour. His favourit...
Category
Early 20th Century Hudson River School George Henry Smillie Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
"Stone Wall, Autumn, " George Smillie, Tonalist Fall Landscape View
By George Henry Smillie
Located in New York, NY
George Henry Smillie (1840 - 1921)
Stone Wall, Autumn, 1879
Oil on canvas
9 1/2 x 15 inches
Signed and dated lower right
Provenance:
Skinner, Boston, September 19, 2014, Lot 389
The career of George Smillie (1840-1921) followed the arc of nineteenth-century U.S. landscape painting. Trained in the Hudson River School tradition, Smillie successfully adapted to changing U.S. tastes and growing interest in European trends. In the late 1800s, he moved to tonalist paintings full of brushwork and influenced by French Barbizon painting. By the end of his career, he had lightened his palette to produce works similar to those of the U.S. impressionists. Yet in all styles, he was never less than competent, and his tonalist work is among the best produced in the United States.
Like many nineteenth-century painters, George Smillie’s artistic training began with the study of printing. His father, James Smillie...
Category
1870s Tonalist George Henry Smillie Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
New York Landscape
By George Henry Smillie
Located in Milford, NH
A fine oil painting of a coastal landscape by American artist George Henry Smillie (1840-1921). Smillie was born in New York, son of engraver James Smillie...
Category
1880s Hudson River School George Henry Smillie Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
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