William Thomas Smedley
American artist (1858–1920)
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Biography
Smedley was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, to a Quaker family.[1] He worked at a newspaper,[vague] then studied engraving and art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, made a tour of the South Seas, then studied in Paris under Jean-Paul Laurens. He settled in New York City in 1880. In 1882 he accompanied the Marquis of Lorne through Canada, preparing sketches for Picturesque Canada.[1] He also provided wood engravings that appeared as illustrations in The Picturesque Atlas of Australasia (1886).[2]
Most of Smedley's work consisted of magazine and book illustration for stories about modern life, but he painted portraits and watercolours. He received the Evans Prize of the American Watercolor Society in 1890 and a bronze medal at the Paris Exposition of 1900.[1] In 1905 he became a member of the National Academy of Design.[1]
Smedley died in Bronxville, New York, on March 26, 1920.[3]
