Helen Sheldon Jacobs Smillie
{{Short description|American painter (1854–1926)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Helen Sheldon Jacobs Smillie
| image = Helen "Nellie" Jacobs Smillie, 1887 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Helen Sheldon Jacobs Smillie, circa 1870
| other_names = Nellie Sheldon Jacobs Smillie, Helen Jacobs Smillie
| birth_name = Helen Sheldon Jacobs
| birth_date = September 14, 1854
| birth_place = New York City, New York, United States
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1926|07|31|1854|09|14}}
| death_place = New York City, New York, United States
| education = Cooper Union,
National Academy of Design
| occupation = Visual artist
| known_for = Painter, watercolorist
| spouse = George Henry Smillie (m. 1881–1921; his death)
| children = 3
| relatives = James David Smillie (brother in-law)
}}
Helen "Nellie" Sheldon Jacobs Smillie (née Helen Sheldon Jacobs; 1854 – 1926) was an American painter, known for genre painting and watercolors.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinamerica02marq/page/1042/mode/2up |title=Who's Who in America |date=1901 |publisher=Marquis Who's Who, Inc. |location=Chicago, IL |pages=1042 |chapter=Smillie, Nellie Sheldon Jacobs |via=Internet Archive}}{{Cite web |date=October 31, 2011 |title=Smillie, Helen Sheldon Jacobs |url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/benezit/display/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.001.0001/acref-9780199773787-e-00170932 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2025-01-05 |website=Benezit Dictionary of Artists |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00170932}} She often used the signature N.S.J. Smillie, and the name Nellie Sheldon Jacobs Smillie.
Biography
Helen Sheldon Jacobs was born on September 14, 1854, in New York City, New York to parents Helen Sheldon and Samuel J. Jacobs.{{Cite news |date=1926-08-01 |title=Mrs. G.H. Smillie, Artist, Dies at 70 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/brooklyn-eagle-mrs-gh-smillie-artist/162309597/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=Brooklyn Eagle |pages=20 |type=Obituary |via=Newspapers.com}}
File:Helen Sheldon Jacobs Smillie - When the Dew is in the Grass.webp
She studied painting at the Cooper Union, and the National Academy of Design. She also took private art lessons from James David Smillie, and Joseph Oriel Eaton.
She met painter George Henry Smillie through her teacher, his brother James. In June 1881, she married George at All Souls' Church in New York City.Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Smillie, James David". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 254.{{Cite news |date=June 29, 1881 |title=Marriage of an Artist |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-cincinnati-enquirer-marriage-of-an-a/162309953/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Cincinnati Enquirer |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1881-06-29 |title=An Artist's Marriage |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-times-an-artists-marri/162309994/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Philadelphia Times |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}} Together they had three sons.{{Cite news |date=1949-09-20 |title=Sheldon Smillie of Bellevue Dies at Home |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pittsburgh-press-sheldon-smillie-of/162309564/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Pittsburgh Press |pages=40 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=November 16, 1921 |title=Additional Deaths |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indiana-democrat-additional-deaths/162309784/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Indiana Democrat |pages=1 |type=Obituary |via=Newspapers.com}} They shared an art studio on East 36th Street in Manhattan.{{Cite book |last=Levy |first=Florence Nightingale |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t3dFAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA5-PA609 |title=American Art Directory |date=1917 |publisher=R.R. Bowker. |pages=609 |language=en |chapter=Smillie, Helen (Nellie) Sheldon Jacobs |via=Google Books}} She was a member of the American Watercolor Society.
A year prior to her death she was ill with a heart condition. Smillie died on July 31, 1926, in at Hotel Shelton in New York City.
References
{{Commons}}
{{Reflist}}
{{1911|wstitle=Smillie, James David|volume=25|page=254}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smillie, Helen Sheldon Jacobs}}
Category:19th-century American painters
Category:19th-century American women artists
Category:20th-century American painters
Category:20th-century American women artists
Category:American genre painters
Category:American watercolorists
Category:American women painters