This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Florence Bartley Smithburn studied art at the John Herron Art School in Indianapolis. Her art was exhibited throughout her native state as early as 1925 and within several years her oils, watercolors and drawings were regularly included in major exhibitions in Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Atlanta and elsewhere. Smithburn was a full member of the Hoosier Salon, the Indiana Art Association and the Chicago Institute of Art. In 1930 she moved to New York City and studied at the Art Students League.
Her African influence was a result of her husband being given a medical commission in British East Africa. She lived in Entebbe, Uganda for ten years, where she developed an understanding and profound respect for the African tribal way of life, which she recorded with a paintbrush. Painting with realism and compassion, Florence Bartley Smithburn addressed relevant social and political issues of her time in America and Africa. Annual prizes from the Indiana State Fair in 1929 to 1934, the 1929 Hoosier Salon prize for the work of a woman 25 years of age or under, and participation in the Indiana Artists Exhibition in 1929, are examples of her success. She had two "one man shows", both in 1938, at the Argent Galleries in New York, and at the John Herron Museum in Indianapolis
Information submitted as a bulletin by: Bob Higgins |
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|