Nice Alice Ravenel Huger Smith watercolor. 19 x 15 inches. Provenance: private owner.
1876 - 1958. One of the leading artists of the Charleston, South Carolina Renaissance, 1915 to 1940, Alice Smith was known for her landscape and genre paintings. She was a descendent of several distinguished families. She was largely self taught and had neither enough money nor inclination to go to school. She learned by observing prints of the Japanese ukiyo-e-school, and did numerous woodblock prints using the same principles including the reflection of reverence for nature in her subject matter.New York artist Lovell Birge Harrison was her only real mentor, and their friendship began in 1908, when he and his wife first stayed in Charleston. They lodged at an inn where there was no studio space, and the friendship began when Smith offered him one of the buildings behind her family home. He encouraged her inclination for soft-edged atmospheric landscapes.In 1917, Smith and her father published a book titled The Dwelling Houses of Charleston, South Carolina, which has been described as "the seminal volume of the Charleston Renaissance" (Magazine Antiques, 11/98). The book reinforced local pride in the city's historic architecture, and represented Smith as the primary figure in the local architectural preservation movement.She was also the founder of the Charleston Etcher's Club in 1923, which sponsored exhibitions that led to widespread national circulation of views of Charleston through prints in newspapers, magazines, books, etc.Although she got much recognition for her woodblock prints, watercolor was the medium she loved most and used for her numerous architectural landscapes and genre paintings.

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Signed [Artist Name] : In cases in which the signature is legible in the lot, this work is described as-is with no attributions given.

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After [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but is a deliberate copy of a known work by the artist.

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American, 19th century: This work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).

Mint