The limited-edition watercolor prints of
Brooklyn Heights resident and award-winning scenic designer Oliver
Smith (1918-1994) are on display now through Jan. 31 at the Clinton
Hill Simply Art Gallery (583 Myrtle Ave. at Classon Avenue).
Broadway Art Enterprises is the exclusive publisher of Smith’s
distinctly American paintings, drawings and stage renderings
and they have chosen Clinton Hill Simply Art to preview the newly
released, giclees of watercolors Smith painted of Brooklyn.
Smith’s "Brooklyn Bridge #1" watercolor (circa 1940s)
is pictured.
The artist, a Wisconsin native, moved to Middagh Street in 1939,
later bought a home on Willow Street (made famous in Truman Capote’s
"The House on the Heights") and lived here until his
death. (In addition to set design, Smith was co-director of the
American Ballet Theatre from 1945 to 1980.)
Gallery owner Lurita LB Brown says, "While I am familiar
with such musicals as ’Hello Dolly!’ ’My Fair Lady,’ ’West Side
Story,’ ’Brigadoon,’ ’Camelot,’ ’On the Town,’ ’Oklahoma,’ ’Guys
and Dolls,’ I did not know the eight-time Tony Award-winner,
nor was I familiar with Oliver Smith as a painter – but I know
Brooklyn.
"Once I viewed Mr. Smith’s Brooklyn watercolors from abstract
to figurative, I felt his passion – Brooklyn."
For more information about gallery hours, call (718) 857-0074.
