A Day In Venice Smiley

Enid Smiley born as Enid Ginsberg and later the family name changed to Gilbert. Attended Yale University and found herself designing costumes for plays and operas. In the late 1930s, Smiley approached Macy's, Bloomingdales and other famous New York retailers soliciting her artistic talents. Began visiting Venice Italy in the 1940s. Schooled with Guido Cadorin in Venice and Raphael Soyer in New York. Smiley and her husband became best friends with John and Dora Koch. They are noted in John’s famous painting Cocktail Party. The two couples frequented each other home for dinner gatherings of other famous artists and professionals. Smiley secured a studio overlooking Central Park for several decades. Her artistic style and subjects reflect her natural affection to be alone in her studio and her life. John Koch was instrumental in motivating Smiley over the years to continue to hone her painting skills. Smiley was hesitant throughout her life to exhibit her work. John Koch over years occasionally dropped by Smiley's studio to purchase her oil paintings for his own collection. Levy Galleries in Manhattan consigned several of Smiley's still life oil paintings during the 1960s and had success. A quote from Smiley's journal "I hate painting these still lifes but this is what they buy.” Smiley's artistic talent was rewarded in 1962. Hirschl & Adler Galleries appointed John Koch to select a group of paintings and sculptures for an exhibition titled "The Continuing Tradition of Realism in American Art". Smiley's #81 White Dawn graced the walls of the gallery along with American Masters like Edward Hopper and Andrew Wyeth.

The first decades of the 20th century were a period of artistic upheaval, with modern art movements including Cubism, Surrealism, Futurism and Dadaism questioning centuries of traditional views of what art should be. Using abstraction, experimental forms and interdisciplinary techniques, painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and performance artists all pushed the boundaries of creative expression.

Major exhibitions, like the 1913 Armory Show in New York City — also known as the “International Exhibition of Modern Art,” in which works like the radically angular Nude Descending a Staircase by Marcel Duchamp caused a sensation — challenged the perspective of viewers and critics and heralded the arrival of modern art in the United States. But the movement’s revolutionary spirit took shape in the 19th century.

The Industrial Revolution, which ushered in new technology and cultural conditions across the world, transformed art from something mostly commissioned by the wealthy or the church to work that responded to personal experiences. The Impressionist style emerged in 1860s France with artists like Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne and Edgar Degas quickly painting works that captured moments of light and urban life. Around the same time in England, the Pre-Raphaelites, like Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, borrowed from late medieval and early Renaissance art to imbue their art with symbolism and modern ideas of beauty.

Emerging from this disruption of the artistic status quo, modern art went further in rejecting conventions and embracing innovation. The bold legacy of leading modern artists Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Marc Chagall, Piet Mondrian and many others continues to inform visual culture today.

Find a collection of modern paintings, sculptures, prints and other fine art on 1stDibs.

Figurative art, as opposed to abstract art, retains features from the observable world in its representational depictions of subject matter. Most commonly, figurative paintings reference and explore the human body, but they can also include landscapes, architecture, plants and animals — all portrayed with realism.

While the oldest figurative art dates back tens of thousands of years to cave wall paintings, figurative works made from observation became especially prominent in the early Renaissance. Artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance masters created naturalistic representations of their subjects.

Pablo Picasso is lauded for laying the foundation for modern figurative art in the 1920s. Although abstracted, this work held a strong connection to representing people and other subjects. Other famous figurative artists include Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. Figurative art in the 20th century would span such diverse genres as Expressionism, Pop art and Surrealism.

Today, a number of figural artists — such as Sedrick Huckaby, Daisy Patton and Eileen Cooper — are making art that uses the human body as its subject.

Because figurative art represents subjects from the real world, natural colors are common in these paintings. A piece of figurative art can be an exciting starting point for setting a tone and creating a color palette in a room.

Browse an extensive collection of figurative paintings on 1stDibs.