Lot 38057: EMILY GUTHRIE SMITH (American, 1909-1986)

EMILY GUTHRIE SMITH (American, 1909-1986) Landscape with Tree Oil pastel on paper 27-1/2 x 21-1/2 inches (69.9 x 54.6 cm) Signed lower right: Emily Guthrie Smith In Landscape with Tree, Emily Guthrie Smith shows herself to be an artist who has mastered the pastel medium. It comes as no surprise that Smith was a lifetime member of the Pastel Society of America and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 1984. She was a contemporary and friend of the Fort Worth Circle, but she did not join them in experimentations with Modernism or abstraction beyond her Impressionistic style. This work on paper is a spectacular example of her pastel work in at least two ways. First, the pasture, its flowers, and the tree are created in a beautiful painterly style. Second, the small steer, bird, and building are remarkably clear for the pastel medium, where detail work is extremely difficult. Stylistically, the vivid colors are used in a way similar to the Impressionists, but her composition and subject are even more traditional. In this work, Smith has created an extraordinary pastel which is different from the portraits for which she is best known.