Jack Wilkinson Smith -Laguna Beach Enchanted Coastline-Oil Painting

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Jack Wilkinson Smith -Laguna Beach enchanted Coastline-Oil painting

Impressionist Oil painting on board - Signed - circa 1930/40s
Board Size … Read more Jack Wilkinson Smith -Laguna Beach enchanted Coastline-Oil painting

Impressionist Oil painting on board - Signed - circa 1930/40s
Board Size 12x16" Frame Size: 19x23"

Artist Biography
Jack Wilkinson Smith (1873 - 1949) was active/lived in California, New Jersey. He is known for Landscape, seascape and mountain painting.
The following is from Clyde Porter, who credits a booklet titled Artistic Ramblings -Then and Now by Eve Madigan.
Artists who worked with Jack Wilkinson Smith in San Gabriel or Alhambra, CA on Champion Place were Victor Forsythe, Frank Tenney Johnson, Eli Harvey, Sam Hyde Harris, Virginia McElroy, Hughlette Wheeler (Tex) and Clyde Champion.Smith was born in Patterson, New Jersey in 1873. His grandfather owned an 80 acre farm, including what is now Madison Square Garden. His father painted some of the decorations in the New York State Capital Building in Albany.He studied at the Chicago Art Institute and under Frank Duveneck in Cincinnati and became a newspaper artist on the Cincinnati Enquirer.He gained national attention with his sketches of the Spanish American War. He went to Lexington, Kentucky, where he had his first "one man show", and met and married Emma Troop. They came to Los Angeles in 1908, where he taught in city schools.Frank Tenney Johnson suggested that Smith look on Champion Place for a location for his studio, and he introduced him to Clyde Champion. Jack Wilkinson Smith promptly bought the house and property at 16 Champion Place, and Bernice and Clyde Champion built across the street. They were fast friends for twenty-two years, until Smith's death in New York in 1948 from a heart attack.Smith painted from Kansas plains to the Oregon Coast.His friends in Art of Los Angeles were Hanson Puthuff, F. Tenney Johnson, William Wendt, Charles Austin, Clyde Forsythe. Marjorie Reed contributed her success to Jack Wilkinson Smith, who was her instructor for years. He was the original founder of the Biltmore Salon, which later was operated on a cooperative basis with sixteen other artists. It was because of his dedication to the founding of this gallery and his membership on the board of the California Art Club, serving in the capacity as president, that he became the only artist in the exclusive "Murder Club" which discussed all sorts of recondite subjects.His painting of Lingering Snow is in Gardena High School. Gathering Storm is one of the finest of his marine paintings. Of all the artists who painted in Alhambra in the 30's, Jack Wilkinson Smith was the most colorful in that he had a flair for entertaining and was very popular as a civic leader. He was very handsome and articulate.Upon the urging of his good friend, western artist Frank Tenney Johnson (1874-1939), in 1926 at age fifty-three Smith moved to “Artists’ Alley” in Alhambra, California, and bought the house next door to Johnson on Champion Place. Fellow artist-neighbors included Eli Harvey (1860-1957), Clyde Forsythe (1885-1962), and Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) who spent many summers at Artists’ Alley. The neighborhood became a favorite gathering place for western artists, and some would travel and paint together in the deserts and Sierra Mountains.Smith was quickly indoctrinated into life at the colony and the local art community. He became a supportive member of the California Art Club where he served as the organization’s sixth president from 1920 to 1921. Smith’s association with local artists led him to become the primary organizer of the Biltmore Salon with the purpose of displaying and selling work by local artists. The Salon’s inaugural exhibition was held on December 14, 1923 within the newly-opened Biltmore Hotel to an eager tourist market. Smith also had a key role in the start of the Painters of the West group that included twenty-five local artists.When asked about California, Smith responded, “Why go elsewhere? Where are mountains nobler than the Sierras? Where are seas bluer than off the California coast? Where are forests to compare with our own?” Indeed, he said, “Whatever I have seen elsewhere I have found in California, and more glorious. It is all here.”During the Depression years, Smith earned his income as a billboard painter for Pacific Outdoor Advertising. As an Impressionist artist, he traveled throughout California in search of inspiring subject matter. His paintings of the Sierra, missions, and seascapes have established Smith as one of California's most important painters. Los Angeles Times columnist Fred Hogue commented, “Jack Wilkinson Smith is the premier painter of California sunlight. He may violate the classic canons of art, but the canvases he creates may cause future critics to revise the accepted canons.”Jack Wilkinson Smith passed away in Monterey Park, California on January 8, 1949.

A beautiful piece that will add to your décor! See less