ERNEST BROWNING SMITH (1866-1951), California landscape artist and Plein Air Painter

Ernest Browning Smith was born in Brimfield, Massachusetts on November 30, 1866. He was educated at the Hitchcock Academy and worked in law and business for several years before settling in Los Angeles in 1894. He was also an accomplished musician and played the French horn in the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra. Without the benefit of art training, he began painting in 1903 in watercolor, but soon switched to oil. In 1911 he left for Europe and studied in various art centers until after World War One. Returning to Los Angeles, he made many painting excursions into the Sierra and the deserts of southern California. Smith died in Los Angeles on April 26, 1951.

Member: California Art Club; Laguna Beach Art Ass'n.

Exhibited: Blanchard Bldg (Los Angeles), 1909; Del Monte Art Gallery, 1909-12; California Art Club, 1914-29; San Francisco Art Ass'n, 1916; California State Fair, 1925 (prize), 1930; Pomona, 1925 (honorable mention); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1932 (solo).

Works held: Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Biography courtesy of EDAN HUGHES.