Could America Have Also Been the Birthplace of Impressionism?

The story of Effie Anderson Smith, a forgotten impressionist from the American frontier

“Yuccas Blooming above Valley” by Effie Anderson Smith, part of a private collection — New York. All photos courtesy of Steven C/EffieAndersonSmith.com unless otherwise noted.

Effie Anderson Smith lived about as far from Paris as you can get. She did not study brushstrokes in sunlit studios overlooking the Seine River, and she did not smoke on cobblestone sidewalks outside cafés. Smith was born in 1869, west of the Mississippi River, and stayed there for almost the entirety of her life. A frontier painter, Smith was hailed as a local talent, supported by the paintings she sold to members of her community throughout the 1890s and 1900s. And yet, somehow, without any direct connection, her work followed the same trajectory as the late-impressionist movement emerging in Europe at the exact same time, before she had any opportunity to be exposed to it.

Miss Effie Iola Anderson (left, circa 1890), around the time of her 21st birthday in Arkansas and her marriage to her first husband, William Mark Spencer.

Smith didn’t have contact with artists like Monet or Matisse or Caillebotte, and yet, just as impressionism was becoming a force in Europe, Smith’s work also became more abstract, using the same lighting and similar plein d’air painting styles. Smith painted for years in a increasingly impressionist style before she was exposed to…