Lillian Wilheim Smith
Self-Portrait Photo of the Artist and her Sister Stopped for a Drink, 1920s
Hand-colored silver print
7 x 11 1/2 inches
With artist's initials recto and manuscript notations verso.
With artist's initials recto and manuscript notations verso.
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This hand-colored photograph was created by the Arizona-artist Lilian Wilhelm Smith and it depicts her and her sister Claire stopping for an impromptu drink of water in the desert. Lillian...
This hand-colored photograph was created by the Arizona-artist Lilian Wilhelm Smith and it depicts her and her sister Claire stopping for an impromptu drink of water in the desert.
Lillian Wilhelm Smith was born in Flagstaff, AZ, in 1882. She moved to New York at an early age and attended the Art Students League, the National Academy, the Leonia School of Art in New Jersey, and Columbia University before venturing west in 1913 to illustrate a novel by Zane Grey (Lillian was a cousin of Grey’s wife Lina Elise). She became quite close with Grey and spent the next few years traveling with him. She settled in Arizona by 1916 and married Westbrooke Robertson in 1917, but they subsequently divorced in 1924. That same year she quickly married Jesse (Jess) Raymond Smith, a cowboy and guide.
Lillian began displaying her art at the Monte Vista Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1929, she worked in the art shop of the newly opened Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, and was allowed to also sell own artwork and Hopi-style china. With Jess, she operated a trading post in Tuba City, an orange grove in Phoenix, and a dude ranch in Sedona. She traveled extensively throughout Arizona, and became well-known for her artistic portrayals of the state and her designs based upon Navajo and Hopi Indian motifs.
Lillian Wilhelm Smith was born in Flagstaff, AZ, in 1882. She moved to New York at an early age and attended the Art Students League, the National Academy, the Leonia School of Art in New Jersey, and Columbia University before venturing west in 1913 to illustrate a novel by Zane Grey (Lillian was a cousin of Grey’s wife Lina Elise). She became quite close with Grey and spent the next few years traveling with him. She settled in Arizona by 1916 and married Westbrooke Robertson in 1917, but they subsequently divorced in 1924. That same year she quickly married Jesse (Jess) Raymond Smith, a cowboy and guide.
Lillian began displaying her art at the Monte Vista Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1929, she worked in the art shop of the newly opened Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, and was allowed to also sell own artwork and Hopi-style china. With Jess, she operated a trading post in Tuba City, an orange grove in Phoenix, and a dude ranch in Sedona. She traveled extensively throughout Arizona, and became well-known for her artistic portrayals of the state and her designs based upon Navajo and Hopi Indian motifs.