Ismael Smith Marí (1886–1972) Spain, Pencil Sketch Nude. Gestural pencil sketch of a nude woman sitting on a bed. Dated 1934. Embossed Ismael Smith, upper left.

Overall Size: 11 3/8 x 14 3/8 in. 

Sight Size: 9 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. 

Ismael Smith Marí (1886–1972) was a Catalan sculptor, illustrator, engraver, and draftsman whose eclectic work bridged early 20th-century European and American modernist currents. Born in Barcelona and associated with the Noucentista movement, he was also deeply influenced by Symbolism and the decadent style of Aubrey Beardsley, shaping his satirical illustrations, bookplates, and figurative art with an edgy and often provocative sensibility. Awarded a municipal grant, Smith studied in Paris until World War I disrupted his career; he then returned to Spain before emigrating to New York in 1919. There, commercial success proved elusive, and he gradually withdrew from public artistic life. Over his career, he produced hundreds of drawings, engravings, sculptures—often small-format plaster cast polychromes—bookplates, medals, and works that crossed decorative and fine art. In his later years, Smith became increasingly obsessed with scientific and personal theories, spent time in psychiatric care in New York, and largely ceased artistic production before his death in White Plains in 1972.