Kreeger Museum Features Exhibit of Albert Paley and Clarice Smith

A new exhibit at the Kreeger Museum in Washington, D.C., features an unlikely juxtaposition of artists: Clarice Smith, a traditional painter known for her oil portraits of nature and animals, and Albert Paley, the sculptor who has gained renown for his grisly works of steel and glass sculptures.

And yet, as Mark Jenkins of the Washington Post notes, this odd combination nevertheless works wonderfully well together.

"Smith's most literal horse pictures and Paley's most industrial sculptures represent the artists at their least akin," Jenkins writes. Yet the dual art exhibition features paintings from Smith "that are far looser, bordering on abstraction," and many of Paley's sculptures are perfectly "adept at making hard appear soft," showing how the two artists may in fact have more common ground than might be initially thought.

The artists also collaborated on a central piece for the show, called "Triptych." It features a two-sided painting by Smith with a Paley-designed frame, a rustic and rusty collection of ribbon-like metal parts that complement the mottled browns of Smith's paintings.

Smith, a Washington, D.C., native, was educated and later taught at George Washington University. Though she is best known for her paintings, she is also well regarded for her functional glass art. She designed the stained glass artwork for an oculus window in the Grand Hall of the New York Historical Society.

Likewise, Albert Paley has been an active artist for over 40 years, working out of his studio in Rochester, New York. He is the first metal sculptor to have ever received the American Institute of Architects' Institute Honors, the association's highest award given to non-architects. His elaborate floor lamps are a perfect example of his trademark blend of twisted steel with functional glass art.

Though somewhat unlikely, Smith and Paley's combined exhibition shows just how two seemingly opposing aesthetic sensibilities can come together for a truly unexpected pleasant surprise.

"Smith and Paley may never work together again, but this one piece ['Triptych'] offers each of them many possible directions," Jenkins says. "The transition illustrates not a change actually seen in nature, but a shift in vision."

The "Smith/Paley" exhibit runs at the Kreeger Museum through December 30.