Maggie Smith Mixed Media Painting of Rabbit with Crown, 21st Century

Item Details

Maggie Smith (American, Ohio; 20th/21st century)
Untitled (rabbit with crown), 21st century
Oil painting, paint pen, and collage on canvas board
Signed to the lower right

Art-making has always been imperative in Maggie Smith’s life, as it gave her confidence in school at a young age. Raised in the New York City area, she studied under Will Barnett at the Art Students League in New York, before receiving her B.F.A. in Painting at the University of Denver. Smith went on to study art in Florence, Italy for several months, then returned to the United States and worked as a children’s book illustrator in Boston. Her first illustrated book was Deer Country (1973), written by Anne Eliot Crompton. She also illustrated Osprey Island (1974), written by Anne Lindbergh Feydy, the daughter of aviators Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. After working as an illustrator, Smith received her Master’s degree in Art Therapy at Wright State University and worked at the V.A. Hospital with Vietnam veterans struggling with PTSD. Painting all the while, she worked as a Interior Designer and Creative Commercial Designer for several years, designing boutiques and private homes.

Smith eventually discovered a passion for creating found object sculptures and jewelry as she collected objects and frequented flea markets, antique malls and shops both in the United States and during her travels in Europe. Her jewelry and mixed media assemblages are composed over years of searching and discovering objects, consisting of various antique objects ranging from doll faces, Tarot cards, cast iron and bronze trinkets, musical instruments, animal horns, foliage, and other materials. Smith eventually started her company the Velvet Antler, where she sold her found object jewelry. She explains that every found object composition, including her jewelry, tells a story indicated by their titles, with each object interrelating with one another. She often does not begin a piece with an overall concept in mind, but instead allows her discoveries guide her concepts and determine when a piece is complete.

Smith also paints a variety of subjects, including figural work, interior scenes, and European scenes, however many of her pieces often feature animals with a regal theme. Rendered with gestural and impressionistic brushstrokes, her paintings typically exhibit overall lyrical, whimsical, and even Surrealist themes.

Condition

- minor warping of the canvas board; light paint chipping and scratches throughout the composition.

Dimensions

Item #

ITMG991781