DOUG SMITH (b. 1941 - 2023, American)

Doug Smith combines the exuberance of modernism and the arresting intimacy of the realistically familiar. Traditional farmhouses and weathered barns punctuate his vast planes of color, line and texture. The compositions evoke enduring themes of the American West.

Boundless optimism and wistful nostalgia; nature’s randomness and man’s ordered domesticity. They suggest both the endless agrarian mosaics and the archetypical homesteads that appear mostly in memory.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Doug Smith was fortunate to have talented, creative parents who recognized his talent from an early age and encouraged him to pursue his art. His mother, herself an accomplished impressionist painter, exposed him to the wealth of San Francisco’s art exhibitions as a youngster, introducing him to the masters in their regular visits to the city’s outstanding museums. By age nine he had sold his first oil painting.

Smith received his first formal artistic instruction at San Francisco City College as a fine art major. He then furthered his education at San Francisco Academy of Art University. At 19 he participated in his first group exhibition in the city’s Artist Cooperative Gallery.

After service in the U.S. Army, Smith returned to San Francisco and joined a firm as a graphic designer. The company relocated to Southern California and he continued his training at the Art Center College of Design and the California Art Institute.

Throughout his long and successful career in graphic design and art direction, Smith continued to paint and allowed his artistic "voice" to evolve. In 2000, he made the transition to focusing full-time on his passion for painting.

His signature body of work has garnered enthusiasm and interest from private collectors worldwide as well as museums including the Rockwell Museum and the Booth Museum of Western Art for their permanent collections.

Doug's strong composition, bold technique, textures and vibrant colors evoke the traditions of modernist Hans Hofmann’s bold color grids and the modernist style of George Morrison’s dramatic landscapes. In addition to these artists, the abstract aerial landscapes of Richard Diebenkorn and Wayne Thiebaud have inspired this current body of work...my images reflect America’s vast rural landscape.

SELECTED SOLO & GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019 Chloe Gallery, Grand Opening for 434 Post St. Space, San Francisco, CA

2016 Horizon Lines, Two-Person Exhibition, Chloe Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2015 ART San Diego, Art Fair, Hohmann Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA

2015 Showcase Exhibitions, Ærena Galleries, Yountville, St Helena, & Healdsburg, California

2014 Solo Exhibition, Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, AZ

2014 Group Exhibition, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2013 Solo Exhibition, Hohmann Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA

2012 Group Exhibition, United States Embassy, Spaso House, Moscow, Russia

2012 Two Person Exhibition, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St Helena, CA

2012 Invitational Exhibition, “Artists for a New Century” Bennington Center, Bennington, VT

2012 Solo Exhibition, Watts Fine Art, Zionsville, IN

2012 Winter Group Show, Visions West Galleries, Denver, CO

2011 Collectors Legacy Exhibition, Rockwell Museum of Western Art

2011 Art of the New West Exhibition, Watts Fine Art, Zionsville, IN

2011 Group Landscape Show, Watts Fine Art, Zionsville, IN

2011 Solo Exhibition, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St Helena, CA

2011 Solo Exhibition, Alpha Omega Winery, Rutherford, CA

2010 Two person Exhibition, Left Coast Galleries, Studio City, CA

2010 Art of the New West Exhibition, Watts Fine Art, Zionsville, IN

2010 Two Person Exhibition, Campton Gallery, New York

2010 21st Century Regionalist: Invitational Art of the Next West, Rockwell Museum of Western Art, Corning, NY

2009 Solo Exhibition, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco

2009 Two Person Exhibition, Blue Gallery, Kansas City, MO

2008 LACMA Wet Paint Exhibition, Beverly Hills, CA

2008 Group Exhibition, Melissa Morgan Fine Art Gallery, Palm Desert, CA

2008 Group Exhibition, Left Coast Galleries, Studio City, CA

2007 21st Century Regionalists, Invitational Art of the New West, Booth Western Art Museum, Atlanta

2007 Group Exhibition, Modern Masters Fine Art Gallery, Palm Desert, CA

2006 LACMA Wet Paint Exhibition, Beverly Hills, CA

2006 Boston International Fine Art Show, Wynne Falconer Gallery, Boston

2006 LACMA Four Person Exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum of Art

2005 Group Exhibition, Patricia Rovzar Gallery, Kirkland, WA

2005 Solo Exhibition, McLean Gallery, Malibu, CA

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, GA Rockwell Museum, Corning, NY PUBLICATIONS

2014 Western Art Collector, November, Solo Exhibition, Desert Caballeros Western Museum

2014 Western Art & Architecture Magazine, October Issue

2012 American Art Collector, March, Watts Fine Art Solo Exhibition

2012 Western Art and Architecture Magazine, August Issue

2012 American Art Collector, March Issue, Watts Fine Art Exhibition

2011 Western Art Collector, October, Collectors Legacy Exhibition, Rockwell Museum of Western Art

2011 Western Art Collector, September, Art of the New West, Watts Fine Art

2011 Marin Magazine Cover, February Issue

2010 Western Art Collector, September, Art of the New West, Watts Fine Art

2010 American Art Collector, July, Rockwell Museum of Western Art Exhibition

2010 American Art Collector, June, Rockwell Museum of Western Art Exhibition

2009 American Art Collector, July, Artist Focus

2008 Southwest Art, January, Best of the West - Art of the New West, Booth Western Art Museum

2008 Western Art Collector, January - Booth Western Art Museum Exhibition

2005 Southwest Art, February, Best of the West