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Enid Smiley Paintings

American, 1921-2004

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.

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Artist: Enid Smiley
Cityscape
By Enid Smiley
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original oil on canvas painting by American female artist Enid Smiley. Enid Smiley (1924-2004) American New York. Born as Enid Ginsberg and later the family name changed to Gilb...
Category

1970s Modern Enid Smiley Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Vintage American Modernist Female Artist Italian Venice View Surreal Painting
By Enid Smiley
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist view of Venice by Enid Smiley. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed.
Category

1950s Modern Enid Smiley Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A Day in Venice
By Enid Smiley
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original oil on canvas painting by American female artist Enid Smiley. Enid Smiley (1924-2004) American New York. Born as Enid Ginsberg and later the family name changed to Gilb...
Category

1970s Modern Enid Smiley Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A Day in Venice
$2,695 Sale Price
20% Off
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By Marcel Emile Cailliet
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Landscape
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Six O'Clock
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Six O-Clock, c. 1942, oil on canvas, 30 x 20 inches, signed and titled several times verso of frame and stretcher (perhaps by another hand), marked “Rehn” several times on frame (for the Frank K. M. Rehn Galleries in New York City, who represented Craig at the time); Exhibited: 1) 18th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings from March 21 to May 2, 1943 at The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. #87, original price $450 (per catalog) (exhibition label verso), 2) Craig’s one-man show at the Frank K. M. Rehn Galleries, New York City, from October 26 to November 14, 1942, #10 (original price listed as $350); and 3) Exhibition of thirty paintings sponsored by the Harrisburg Art Association at the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg in March, 1944 (concerning this exhibit, Penelope Redd of The Evening News (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) wrote: “Other paintings that have overtones of superrealism inherent in the subjects include Tom Craig’s California nocturne, ‘Six O’Clock,’ two figures moving through the twilight . . . .” March 6, 1944, p. 13); another label verso from The Museum of Art of Toledo (Ohio): original frame: Provenance includes George Stern Gallery, Los Angeles, CA About the Painting Long before Chris Burden’s iconic installation outside of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Urban Light, another artist, Tom Craig, made Southern California streetlights the subject of one of his early 1940s paintings. Consisting of dozens of recycled streetlights from the 1920s and 1930s forming a classical colonnade at the museum’s entrance, Burden’s Urban Light has become a symbol of Los Angeles. For Burden, the streetlights represent what constitutes an advanced society, something “safe after dark and beautiful to behold.” It seems that Craig is playing on the same theme in Six O-Clock. Although we see two hunched figures trudging along the sidewalk at the end of a long day, the real stars of this painting are the streetlights which brighten the twilight and silhouette another iconic symbol of Los Angeles, the palm trees in the distance. Mountains in the background and the distant view of a suburban neighborhood join the streetlights and palm trees as classic subject matter for a California Scene painting, but Craig gives us a twist by depicting the scene not as a sun-drenched natural expanse. Rather, Craig uses thin layers of oil paint, mimicking the watercolor technique for which he is most famous, to show us the twinkling beauty of manmade light and the safety it affords. Although Southern California is a land of natural wonders, the interventions of humanity are already everywhere in Los Angeles and as one critic noted, the resulting painting has an air of “superrealism.” About the Artist Thomas Theodore Craig was a well-known fixture in the Southern California art scene. He was born in Upland California. Craig graduated with a degree in botany from Pomona College and studied painting at Pamona and the Chouinard Art School with Stanton MacDonald-Wright and Barse Miller among others. He became close friends with fellow artist Milford Zornes...
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Previously Available Items
Antique American Modernist Surreal Cityscape Framed Signed Oil Painting
By Enid Smiley
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist abstract oil painting. Oil on canvas. Framed. Signed.
Category

1950s Surrealist Enid Smiley Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Vintage American Modernist New York City Surreal Street Scene Oil Painting
By Enid Smiley
Located in Buffalo, NY
Antique American modernist cityscape painting by Enid Smiley. Oil on canvas. Framed.
Category

1950s Modern Enid Smiley Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Self Service Laundry
By Enid Smiley
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An original oil on canvas painting by American female artist Enid Smiley. Enid Smiley (1924-2004) American New York. Born as Enid Ginsberg and later the family name changed to Gilb...
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1970s Modern Enid Smiley Paintings

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Ghost In the Shadow
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Category

1970s Modern Enid Smiley Paintings

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Canvas, Oil

The Staircase
By Enid Smiley
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original oil on panel by female modernist Enid Smiley. An exhibiting contemporary of Edward Hopper, Smiley created engaging surrealist portraits of everyday life.
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1960s Modern Enid Smiley Paintings

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Wood, Oil

Shadows in Central Park
By Enid Smiley
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original oil on canvas painting by Enid Smiley depicting a large oak tree casting shadows in front of Central Park with the New York City skyline in the background.
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1960s American Realist Enid Smiley Paintings

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Tree Lined Path
By Enid Smiley
Located in Buffalo, NY
A modern realist painting by American female artist Enid Smiley depicting a path lined with trees which cast a beautiful dramatic shadow on the ground.
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Ventian Courtyard
By Enid Smiley
Located in Buffalo, NY
An original oil on canvas by listed New York female artist Enid Smiley.
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1950s American Modern Enid Smiley Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

City Builders
By Enid Smiley
Located in Buffalo, NY
A modernist painting by American female artist Enid Smiley depicting busy construction workers in New York City.
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1960s American Modern Enid Smiley Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Enid Smiley paintings for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Enid Smiley paintings available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Enid Smiley in canvas, fabric, oil paint and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Enid Smiley paintings, so small editions measuring 14 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Harold Vincent Skene, Pearl Took, and Wes Olmsted. Enid Smiley paintings prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $795 and tops out at $2,695, while the average work can sell for $2,098.

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