J.C.W. Kline (1850-1901) American School RESIDENCE OF GEORGE “DOC” SMITH, OMAHA, 1875 21¾ x 27 inches / 28 x 33½ framed Oil on canvas Signed and dated lower right: “Omaha, July-1875, J.C.W. Kline” Inscribed right center: “Residence of Doc Smith” Provenance: Carl Dentzel, Northridge, California (former Director of the Southwest Museum, Los Angeles) Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona (since 1985) George “Doc” Smith was the veteran surveyor of Douglas County, Nebraska, according to an 1876 publication on Omaha history. A resident of Omaha for more than 20 years, his listing in the 1874 City Directory indicates that he lived in this residence out in the country north and east of the main part of the city. We surmise that the figure cultivating in the garden is Doc Smith himself. The two figures in the buggy could be his wife and daughter, perhaps on their way to town. The artist has painstakingly portrayed this family and their surroundings. The trees, the variety of plants in the garden, the clothing on the figures, the fence and the shadow it casts on the ground are all painted with incredible detail. This charming and naive oil painting may have taken the artist as long as one year to complete. Nebraska, the Cornhusker State, was settled in 1847 and admitted to the Union twenty years later. This painting is important as an early historic rendering of life in the midwest shortly after Nebraska achieved statehood in 1867. J.C.W. Kline was born in Maryland on March 6, 1850. This young artist may have had some academic training, but was probably self-taught. He and his partner, C.A. Peterson, owned a hardware store in Omaha, the largest city in Nebraska. An article in the Oakland Independent Newspaper of Burt County tells us that Mr. Kline passed away on January 18, 1901. An entry in the same paper indicates that Mrs. Kline remarried a Dr. Monroe on February 14, 1902. Accompanying the painting is a period American Victorian frame designed and made about the same time as the painting. Peeled husks of corn approximately two inches in length have been used to decorate and enhance the edge of the frame. Price: $25000.

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