Florence Bartley Smithburn Sketchbooks

Item Details

Florence Bartley Smithburn (Indiana, 1904 – 1989)
Untitled, mid 20th century
Three sketchbooks with graphite, colored pencil, ink, and charcoal drawings on paper
Each is signed to the inner cover

A collection of three sketchbooks by Indiana artist Florence Bartley Smithburn (1904-1989). These books contain drawings, studies, sketches, personal notes, and thumbnails rendered with graphite, colored pencil, charcoal, and ink. All are signed to the inner cover.

Smithburn studied art the the John Herron Art School in Indianapolis, Indiana, before moving to Uganda for ten years, recording the African tribal way of life with her artwork. Her experiences living in Africa and the United States ultimately shaped her artistic oeuvre, as her art continued to address socio-economic and political issues relevant to the times. Her work has been exhibited widely in Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, Atlanta, New York and Indianapolis and has been included in the collections of the Georgia Museum of Art and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Condition

- bindings of notebooks are a bit loose; toning to pages; books are not completely filled with drawings; some foxing present.

Dimensions

- each book approximately measures.

Item #

16CIN997-2760