Two pen and ink drawings. Farm of the Back Road, Provincetown. 230x305 mm; 9x12 1/8 inches. Initialed and dated in ink, lower right recto, and titled in pencil, verso * Landscape with Farm Equipment. 280x390 mm; 11x15 1/4 inches. Initialed and dated in ink, lower left recto. Both 1935.
Schmidt began her training at the Art Students League in New York, where she met her husband Yasuo Kuniyoshi (1889-1953, see lot 54). Throughout the 1920s, she received critical praise for her still lifes, landscapes and portrayals of New York urban life, exhibiting frequently at prominent, modern New York galleries such as the Downtown Gallery, the Daniel Gallery and the Whitney Studio Club (of which she was a founding member and where she had her first solo exhibition in 1923). She became dissatisfied with her work from around 1939 until 1960, producing less though still participating in group exhibitions, when a crumpled paper towel on a table inspired her to explore the motif of dead leaves and discarded paper, the style of which approached "magical realism." She is known for her impeccable technique and her elevation of everyday, overlooked subjects.
