SAMUEL D SMITH Museum Quality Original Signed Painting NIGERIA WW2 Combat Artist

Description: This is a magnificent large museum-quality painting by noted US military combat artist (and stateside artist-instructor), Samuel "Sam" David Smith (born Thorndale, Texas, February 11, 1918 — May 23, 1999) Subject: Nigerian Warriors in traditional military regalia, Nigeria, Africa Provenance: local Southern California estate collection 20 x 30 inches, image size 31 1/2 x 41 1/2 inches, framed Medium: watercolor, gouache on paper Signed, and inscribed lower right. Created: circa 1943 Excellent condition. ***Note: work ships with glass removed for safe travel.*** About the artist: Samuel Smith, a high school dropout went on to become a famous artist, and rose from working in the University of New Mexico art department, to full time professor, despite not having a high school diploma or college degree. Smith had moved to Albuquerque with his family at the age of 7 years. He dropped out of Albuquerque High School at the age of 13 years. Samuel D. Smith (1918-1999) had studied with artists Randall Davey, Jack Levine, Ben Turner and Carl Von Hassler. During World War II, he documented combat scenes while on duty in West Africa and in the China-Burma-India Theater. Smith and Wilson Hurley were close friends. Hurley said of Smith "Sam bloomed early. He was extremely prolific right at the end of the war...Sam had done a bunch of paintings of China and they were gorgeous... Everybody was excited with the work he was doing. He was friendly, telling me what he was trying to do and why. I was like a little brother." Smith and about 30 other combat artists were honored in 1995 in Washington, D.C. on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. The three-day show of their work was titled "Eyewitness to History-Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines Paint World War II." Featured works powerfully illustrate various aspects of World War II, ranging from battle scenes to the everyday lives of military men and women. The Department of the Air Force Art Collection holds 13 of his works within their physical and online collection. Smith's paintings have been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Biltmore Galleries in Los Angeles, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, the Fine Arts Galleries at the University of New Mexico and the Roswell Museum and Art Center. His work can be seen in the permanent collections of the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, Texas, Arlington State College in Texas, and the New Mexico State Fair Collection. His awards include the 1960 Oil Purchase Prize at the New Mexico State Fair, the Questa Purchase Prize in 1962, the Grand Award Prize at the Artist's Alpine Holiday Show in 1964 and 1965 and the Grand Award at the Black Canyon Art Exhibition in Hotchkiss, Colorado.

Price: 850 USD

Location: Tarzana, California

End Time: 2024-10-14T20:31:27.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD