Carl J Smith

Carl J. Smith was the ninth child in a family of ten. Most of his life he has spent living in the high plains of West Texas. After a two year stint in the Army, Smith earned his BS degree from West Texas State in 1953; followed by a 12-year teaching career in Portales, New Mexico. In 1966, Smith moved to Canyon, Texas and began a full-time career as an artist. “While I love New Mexico and Colorado,” he explains, “I always come home to the Texas Panhandle. Not all, but many of my paintings have their inspiration from this part of the country.” Smith has had dozens of one-man shows over the years, including the Thomas Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma and among others, the Grand Central Gallery in New York. Primarily working in oils, Smith is best known for his exceptional subtlety of color, as well as the great visual depth and atmosphere he achieves in his paintings. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson, Governor John Connally, the King Ranch and other famous individuals began to collect Smith’s paintings. Since that time, the list of collectors has grown to include people from every state in the USA and as far away as Japan and Saudi Arabia.

Painting is an art form that has spanned innumerable cultures, with artists using the medium to tell stories, explore and communicate ideas and express themselves. To bring abstract paintings, landscape paintings, still-life paintings and other original paintings into your home is to celebrate and share in the long tradition of this discipline.

When we look at paintings, particularly those that originated in the past, we learn about history, other cultures and countries of the world. Like every other work of art, paintings — whether they are contemporary creations or works that were made during the 19th century — can often help us clearly see and understand the world around us in a meaningful and interesting way.

Cave walls were the canvases for what were arguably the world’s first landscape paintings, which depict natural scenery through art. Portrait paintings and drawings, which, along with sculpture, were how someone’s appearance was recorded prior to the advent of photography, are at least as old as Ancient Egypt. In the Netherlands, landscapes were a major theme for painters as early as the 1500s. Later, artists in Greece, Rome and elsewhere created vast wall paintings to decorate stately homes, churches and tombs.

Today, creating a wall of art is a wonderful way to enhance your space, showcase beautiful pieces and tie an interior design together.

No matter your preference, whether you favor Post-Impressionist paintings, animal paintings, Surrealism, Pop art or another movement or specific period, arranging art on a blank wall allows you to evoke emotions in a room while also showing off your tastes and interests. A symmetrical wall arrangement may comprise a grid of four to six pieces or, for an odd number of works, a horizontal row. Asymmetrical arrangements, which may be small clusters of art or large, salon-style gallery walls, have a more collected and eclectic feel.

Download the 1stDibs app, which includes a handy “View on Wall” feature that allows you to see how a particular artwork will look on a particular wall, and read about how to arrange wall art. And if you’re searching for the perfect palette for your interior design project, what better place to turn than to the art world’s masters of color? 

On 1stDibs, you’ll find an expansive collection of paintings and other fine art for your home or office. Browse abstract paintings, portrait paintings, paintings by emerging artists and more today.