Fannie Hillsmith

Fannie Hillsmith (1911 – July 27, 2007) was an American cubist painter from Boston who during a long career, mostly based in New York City, developed a style of Cubism which combined traditional Cubist motifs with what she called "an early American feeling."

Personal life Fannie Hillsmith was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1911. Her grandfather, Frank Hill Smith, was a painter, as well as one of the founders of the Boston Museum School. Hillsmith began sketching at an early age. She enrolled in the Boston Museum School in 1930, and graduated four years later. Welchman was an American-English mathematician who worked at Bletchley Park and worked on code-breaking alongside Alan Turing. The couple met while Hillsmith was on a one-year scholarship from the Boston Museum of Art to study in Europe. The couple divorced in 1970. She also exhibited at a series of shows at the Peridot Gallery and the Charles Egan Gallery during the 1950s and 1960s. She worked at Aterlier alongside noted artists such as Yves Tanguy, Miró and Jacques Lipchitz. Another notable piece is The Table–Study No. 5, painted in 1947.

Fannie Hillsmith actively painted Cubist art for nearly sixty years. She had been represented by an art gallery in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood since 1990. She continued painting every day until January 2007.

Hillsmith died in her sleep at her home in Jaffrey, New Hampshire on July 27, 2007.

Artist style Hillmsith's style of Cubism combined traditional Cubist motifs with what she called "an early American feeling." She was influenced by such painters as Picasso, Gris and Miró, according to The New York Times.

She is quoted as saying, "I am interested in abstract art, but I am also interested in the message—the problem is to convey feeling with the impact of the abstract."