Lillian "Wilhelm" Smith (1882-1971) 15 3/4" x 13" oil on board. Titled and signed "Fashing, Wilhelm" lower left. Signed and titled on verso, "For Ray Landon- Fasching by Mrs. Lillian "Wilhelm" Smith, painted in 1909 before my marriage to Jesse - My best to you always, Lillian Dec. 25, 1937." She studied at the National Academy of Design, Arts Student League, Columbia University, and The Leonia School of Art in New Jersey. In 1912 her cousin-in-law, Zane Grey, got her backstage at Buffalo Bill's "Wild West Show" in New York, where she was able to paint the Indians. She was fascinated with the West, and traveled with Grey to Arizona in 1913 to illustrate his book The Rainbow Trail . She also illustrated The Border Legion in 1916. She was the first and only woman to illustrate western novels by Zane Grey. She traveled throughout Arizona and married her cowboy-husband, Jesse Smith. She painted landscapes and the occasional Indian portrait, and exhibited widely. Unframed.

Good condition.