Enid Smiley On Sale

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.

It could be argued that cave walls were the canvases for the world’s first landscape paintings, which depict and elevate natural scenery through art, but there is a richer history to consider.

The Netherlands was home to landscapes as a major theme in painting as early as the 1500s, and ink-on-silk paintings in China featured mountains and large bodies of water as far back as the third century. Greeks created vast wall paintings that depicted landscapes and grandiose garden scenes, while in the late 15th century and early 16th century, landscapes were increasingly the subject of watercolor works by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Bartolomeo.

The popularity of religious paintings eventually declined altogether, and by the early 19th century, painters of classical landscapes took to painting out-of-doors (plein-air painting). Paintings of natural scenery were increasingly realistic but romanticized too. Into the 20th century, landscapes remained a major theme for many artists, and while the term “landscape painting” may call to mind images of lush, grassy fields and open seascapes, the genre is characterized by more variety, colors and diverse styles than you may think. Painters working in the photorealist style of landscape painting, for example, seek to create works so lifelike that you may confuse their paint for camera pixels. But if you’re shopping for art to outfit an important room, the work needs to be something with a bit of gravitas (and the right frame is important, too).

Adding a landscape painting to your home can introduce peace and serenity within the confines of your own space. (Some may think of it as an aspirational window of sorts rather than a canvas.) Abstract landscape paintings by the likes of Korean painter Seungyoon Choi or Georgia-based artist Katherine Sandoz, on the other hand, bring pops of color and movement into a room. These landscapes refuse to serve as a background. Elsewhere, Adam Straus’s technology-inspired paintings highlight how our extreme involvement with our devices has removed us from the glory of the world around us. Influenced by modern life and steeped in social commentary, Straus’s landscape paintings make us see our surroundings anew.

Whether you’re seeking works by the world’s most notable names or those authored by underground legends, find a vast collection of landscape paintings on 1stDibs.