| Smith, Joan Irvine | ||||||||||
| type | Collector | |||||||||
| dates | 1933-2019 | |||||||||
| city | Irvine | |||||||||
| state | CA | |||||||||
| sex | F | |||||||||
| history |
Athalie Anita Irvine, known as Joan Irvine Smith, was an American philanthropist, arts patron, horse trainer, and heiress to the Irvine family’s ranching fortune. In 1992, along with her mother (Athalie Elinore Richardson Clarke) and son (James Irvine Swinden), she created the Irvine Museum to house the family’s collection. Comprising over 1,300 works—including California Impressionism and plein air paintings from 1890-1930—the collection depicts the state’s distinctive natural environments. It includes paintings, drawings, sketches, and objects by seminal artists such as Franz Bischoff, Jessie Arms Botke, Alson Skinner Clark, Elanor Colburn, Frank Cuprien, Armin Hansen, Anna Althea Hills, Arthur Mathews, Granville Redmond, William Ritschel, Guy Rose, Donna Schuster, William Wendt, and many others. In 2016, Irvine gave 1,200 California Impressionist paintings to the University of California, Irvine, to establish a university museum. |
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| updated | 11/24/2025 10:11:50 | |||||||||
| research links |
Search FRESCO (Frick Research Catalog Online) Search Worldcat | |||||||||
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