Mixed media on paper 29 1/2 x 22 in., 43 x 36 in. A proponent of realist painting, Andrea Smith has worked in many countries. She was raised in Victoria, Australia where she earned an undergraduate degree in ceramics and photography at Melbourne University. Eight years later she went to Italy, where she studied for three years with Daniel Graves at the Florence Academy of Art and spent five years teaching art in Florence. Then winning a stipend from Australia to visit museums worldwide, she moved to New York City and studied with Michael Aviano, Michael Grimaldi and Nelson Shanks. In 2002, with Judy Kudlow, she co-founded the Harlem Studio of Art, where she teaches a course based on what she learned in Florence "that rigorously trains the eye, with particular emphasis on the drawing curriculum developed by Charles Bargue and Jean-Leon Gerome. Several years later, Smith and Kudlow expanded the mission of the Studio to include forum discussions and outside lectures.Smith paints still lifes, portraits and figures in oil, and her paintings "feature the expert draftsmanship, tonal palette, and high finish" of alumni from the Florence Academy. Many of her portrait subjects "are confident women with ambiguous intentions, yet they are neither named individuals nor personifications." In June, 2008, Andrea Smith will again travel to another country for an extended stay, as she will move to Rome, Italy to open a sister school of the Harlem Studio of Art.Source:Kelly Compton, "Artists Making Their Mark: Three To Watch", Fine Art Connoisseur, June 2008, p. 66

Good condition, some nicks to frame