Beautiful Hassel Smith acrylic canvas, 48 x 28 inches. Provenance: private owner.
Biography: 1915 - 2007. Hassel Smith was born in a small factory town between Detroit and Chicago: Sturgis, Michigan on April 24, 1915. While attending Northwestern University as an undergraduate, he was exposed to painting at the World's Fair in Chicago. It was here where he saw the Century of Progress exposition with Duchamp and Dali, and the Diaghilev Company of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, directed by Massine. It would be Duchamp and Dali's work that would provide Smith's influence as an abstract expressionist. After graduating in 1936 from Northwestern University with a degree in art history and English literature, Smith moved to California and began a two-year study period at the California School of Fine Arts.He was active in the local art scene as an exhibitor, and taught at San Francisco State College from 1946-1947, the California School of Fine Arts from 1945-1952, the Presidio Hill Elementary School of San Francisco from 1952-1955, and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) during the 1960s. He was an occasional lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley during the period 1963-1965.From 1953 to 1959, Hassel Smith lived in Sebastopol, California before moving to Bath, England in 1966.He is of the opinion that modern art begins at the moment that artists and their viewers establish a distinction between art that is "abstract" and art that is "figurative". Smith's works occurred in phases: oversized abstracts in his early years to drawings completed as a young socialist while working for the New Deal, to pop-art.Smith is a member of the San Francisco Art Association and has exhibited at the San Francisco Art Association (1938-1946), the Golden Gate Exposition, 1939; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1941; the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1953; the Pasadena Art Museum, 1961; the San Francisco Art Institute, 1966; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1968; the Oakland Museum, 1973, The Bevan-Thorton Arts, London, England; Holy Names College, Oakland, California, and the Lannetti-Lanzoni Gallery, San Francisco. His works can be seen at the Pasadena Art Museum and the Oakland Museum, among others.

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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.

By [Artist Name] : The work is by the artist.

Attributed to [Artist Name] : The work may be ascribed to the artist on the basis of style, but there may be some question as to actual authorship.

In the manner of [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but was designed deliberately to emulate the style of the artist.

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

Circle of [Artist Name] : A work of the period of the artist showing his influence, closely associated with the artist but not necessarily his pupil.

Follower of [Artist Name]: A work by a pupil or a follower of the artist (not necessarily a pupil).

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

Mint, based on the description