Beth Arthur (Born 1927) American, Oil and Paper Collage Under Glass. The painted strips are assembled somewhat to resemble a desert flower, and the piece is from her Mexican series in 1976. Signed with a small flower drawing bottom right. Writing on the back gives the title "San Miguel De Allende" and the medium. A small label reads "This Work of Art is woned (sic) by the Sylvia G. Zell Trust Agreement dated January 23, 1973, as amended." A newspaper writer-up on the artist and her one-woman exhibition at Buyways Gallery on Siesta Key in Florida is attached to the back next to it. 

Overall Size: 24 x 30 in. 

Sight Size: 23 3/4 x 29 3/4 in. 

Beth Arthur was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927, and found escape from the drudgery of the Great Depression in music and art. She eventually moved to Sarasota, Florida in the early 1950s at the invitation of Hilton Leech to study art under him while babysitting his children and those of other artists in the colony. She was drawn to many art forms, particularly collage, and sold her first painting after only a year under Leech’s tutelage. She soon found work as a staff artist for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus creating sets, props, and costumes, and taught classes at local schools as well as at the Ringling College of Art and Design. After marrying Furman Arthur they moved to Siesta Key and were both part of the original faculty of New College of Florida, helping Syd Solomon form his Art Institute there and establish the unique liberal arts curriculum. Today she is considered a living Sarasota legend and a key figure in the transitional period as the artist colony influenced the expansion of the city and community, with many of her works still found in museums, galleries, and public and private collections throughout the state.

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