Effie! Plein Air Pioneer

In the midst of the rough and tumble activities of the Arizona Territory mining camp at Pearce lived a young woman who would emerge as Arizona’s first nationally known female plein air impressionist landscape painter. For over 55 years, Effie Anderson Smith, also known as Mrs. A. Y. Smith, made her home in Cochise County and painted its desert and mountain vistas. The paintings she created between 1895 and 1950 depicting Cochise Stronghold, the Chiricahua Mountains, Cave Creek Canyon, and the Grand Canyon would eventually be seen in exhibits from Phoenix to Philadelphia, and were sought after by politicians and European nobility.

This 150th birthday retrospective of 46 paintings wass the largest exhibit of Effie Anderson Smith paintings ever assembled in one place. It was also the first time in over 75 years (since 1942) that E.A. Smith's paintings have been exhibited in Tucson, the city which hosted her earliest major exhibits in the 1920s.