Hollyhocks: A Study

James David Smillie

This estate proof of "Hollyhocks: A Study" has a Whistler-like "tab" in the lower left margin that has a 5 in a circle and a "w" or "m" in pencil. Smillie is known to have signed 50 impression, 26 of which he printed himself. This is a personal proof from his estate and is signed in the plate only.

According to cataloguer Brucia Witthoft "Smillie began this print on October 8, 1889 for S.R. Koehler. He described it in his Diary as 'more brutal than Poppies'. Smillie's records state that this print was intended as (a) commission for (the) Graphic Arts Dept. National Museum, Washington, DC, but there is no example in the Library of Congress, where presumably such a commission would have ended up. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, copy bears a pencilled date, Oct. 14, 1889."

An essay of Smillie's floral prints by Michael Schantz can be found in 'Imprint' by the American Historical Print Collectors Society, volume 35, Number II, Autumn 2010 on pages 2 through 15. Titled "A Joy to the Eye - The Floral Prints of James D. Smillie", 'Hollyhocks: A Study' is discussed on page 7, (this impression is illustrated on page 6, full page).