Emily E Syminton - Musicians in a Courtyard c 1947 P3052

An extraordinary and highly original work, nocturnal, haunted, somewhat surreal and simply gorgeous. The work is reproduced in Maurine St Gaudens' Emerging from the Shadows: A Survey of Women Artists Working in California, 1860-1960, on  p. 1095. Measures 16" x 20" and the frame is 21 1/2" x 25 1/3". Emily Elinor Syminton was born in Los Angeles, California, on April 18, 1916, the daughter of Gilbert J. and Inez Louise (Hallett) Syminton. Her father was a co-founder of the Richfield Oil Company. Emily enrolled at the Chouinard Art Institute upon her high school graduation. She remained at Chouinard for three years before enrolling in the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (Academy of Fine Arts of Florence), Italy. This was at a time when Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini was allowing foreigners into the country to attend the Accademia free of charge. The practice proved to be an annoyance to many of the teachers, especially because many of the foreign students, including Emily, d