Lelah Borah Smith

The Gallery seeks paintings by Lelah Borah Smith. Contact: info@GalleryofWisconsinArt.com

BORN: March 11, 1895 in Grant, Wisconain

DIED: May 2, 1971 in Lancaster, Wisconain

Lelah was a self-taught artist with an unusual beginning.

Lela’s sister had been hired to teach a WPA class on sewing. Things were going well for her until the she was told by her supervisor that she could not teach only sewing, but had to add something else. She discussed it with Lela, who was a milliner, and together they decided to add art as a second class, even though neither had any real understanding of painting. They spent long hours studying painting techniques, and then taught what she had learned to the students. Her first oil painting was of one of her cats,

Upon the encouragment of a fellow rural artist, she entered her first Rural Art Exhibit in Madison in 1941. Her painting of the cat received favorable comments from the judging committe and John Steuart Curry, which gave her the inspiration to paint more intentionally. Within the next few years, she was exhibiting and earning further praise and awards. She became recognized as one of the best of Wisconsin’s rural artists. 

Her ideas and subjects of her watercolor and oil paintings did not come from afar or stray from her lo

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Lelah Borah Smith
Landscape with Birch Trees and Creek by Lelah Borah Smith
Landscape with Birch Trees and...
6 x 9.25 in.
$1000.00