Ilona Royce Smithkin
{{Short description|American artist, author, model, and performer (1920–2021)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ilona Royce Smithkin
| image =
| birth_date = March 27, 1920
| birth_place = Poland
| death_date = August 1, 2021
| death_place = Provincetown, Massachusetts
}}
Ilona Royce Smithkin (March 27, 1920 – August 1, 2021) was a Polish-born American artist, author, model, and performer.
Her work included appearances in films such as Advanced Style and Ilona, Upstairs, in the television series Ilona's Palette, Painting with Ilona, and Finishing Touches with Ilona, and the books Painting with Ilona, Joy Dust, and Ninety-Nine: Straight Up, No Chaser.{{Cite web|author=Emanuella Grinberg|date=2012-04-28|title=Aging stylishly, online and in the streets|url=https://www.cnn.com/2012/04/27/living/aging-fashion-style/index.html|access-date=2020-11-18|website=CNN Digital|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=The Look Book - Color-Loving Art Teacher Ilona Smithkin -- New York Magazine - Nymag|url=https://nymag.com/fashion/lookbook/66279/|access-date=2020-11-18|website=New York Magazine|date=27 May 2010 |language=en-us}}{{Cite web|last=Stewart|first=Rhonda|date=June 26, 2005|title=Odd couplings add to the appeal of HFA's summer 'Treasures' series|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/443600835/?terms=ilona%2Bsmithkin%2Bprovincetown|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 18, 2020|website=www.newspapers.com}}
Smithkin turned 100 in March 2020{{Cite web|author=Staff report|title=Provincetown beloved artist Ilona Royce-Smithkin turns 100|url=https://www.wickedlocal.com/news/20200330/provincetown-beloved-artist-ilona-royce-smithkin-turns-100|access-date=2020-11-18|website=Wicked Local|language=en}} and died in August 2021 at the age of 101 in Provincetown.[https://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/20210803118862/demi-moore-daughter-rumer-willis-heartbroken-tragic-death/ Rumer Willis heartbroken after tragic death of beloved friend]
Early life and training
Smithkin was born Ilona Rosenkranz on March 27, 1920, in Poland.{{cite web |last1=Traub |first1=Alex |title=Ilona Royce Smithkin, Improbable Muse in Fashion and Art, Dies at 101 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/fashion/ilona-royce-smithkin-improbable-muse-in-fashion-and-art-dies-at-101.html |website=The New York Times |date=6 August 2021}}
She was raised in France, Germany and Belgium, and studied at the Reimann School of Art and Design in Berlin and the Academie Royal des Beaux Arts in Antwerp. In 1938, her family emigrated to the United States.
In the United States she studied with Robert Brackman at the Art Students League of New York, and then at the Cape School of Art in Provincetown.{{Cite web|last=Moore|first=Ivy|date=April 17, 2003|title=Painting with Ilona - In Sumter|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/670135225/?terms=ilona%2Bsmithkin%2Breiman%2Bberlin|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 18, 2020|website=Newspapers.com}}
Art
Smithkin's primary mediums were oil painting rooted in Impressionism and sanguine portraiture. Her portrait of writer-philosopher Ayn Rand continues to appear on Rand's book covers and Smithkin has been interviewed about her friendship with the author.{{Cite web|date=2015-03-10|title=Aging with Attitude: Artist Ilona Royce Smithkin|url=https://seniorplanet.org/aging-with-attitude-artist-ilona-royce-smithkin/|access-date=2020-11-18|website=Senior Planet|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=ILONA ROYCE-SMITHKIN: ARTIST, WRITER & MORE {{!}} PASSPORT|url=https://passportmagazine.com/ilona-royce-smithkin-artist-writer-chanteuse-raconteur/|access-date=2020-11-18|website=passportmagazine.com|date=11 June 2019 }}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=September 15, 1972|title=Art League Opening Exhibit Sunday Will Feature Famous Painter Ilona Royce Smithkin|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/66319807/?terms=ilona%2Bsmithkin%2Breiman%2Bberlin|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 18, 2020|website=www.newspapers.com}}{{Cite web|first=|date=March 16, 1986|title=Star of 'Painting with Ilona' to give course at River Pavillion|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/344481756/?terms=%22ilona%27s%2Bpalette%22%2Bsmithkin|access-date=November 18, 2020|website=www.newspapers.com}} Additional subjects of her portraiture were Tennessee Williams and Eugene O'Neill.
Smithkin's work has been exhibited at venues including Musée d'histoire des sciences de la Ville de Genève, Gallerie Charlotte Norberg in Paris, the Eugene O'Neill Memorial Institute in Waterford, Connecticut, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, and the Columbia Museum of Art. Her work remains on permanent exhibition at the Karilon Gallery in Provincetown, where she maintained a studio.
Smithkin began teaching art in 1970. She was a front runner of the educational painting genre on public television, starring in Ilona's Palette, Painting with Ilona, which spawned a book by the same title, and Finishing Touches with Ilona. She also authored Painting with Ilona, Joy Dust: Ilona at 96, and Ninety-Nine: Straight Up, No Chaser.{{Cite web|last=Irick|first=Liz|date=March 23, 1986|title=Ilona's Palette: Famous artist shares her talent, view of world with people of Orangeburg|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/344495907|access-date=November 18, 2020|website=The Times via www.newspapers.com}}
Fashion
Smithkin was the subject of Melissa Hammel's Ilona, Upstairs, which received the 2005 HBO Audience Award for best documentary, and as a lifestyle model featured in Ari Seth Cohen's Advanced Style book, documentary, blog, and coloring book, and the Stylelikeu book and blog.
Smithkin appeared as a model at New York Fashion Week, on The TODAY Show, and for fashion lines including Coach, Karen Walker and Mara Hoffman.
Her trademarks included flaming red, pixie-cut hair and matching homemade eyelashes. The New York Post declared her a "style legend."{{Cite news|last=Gates|first=Anita|date=2014-09-25|title=What Becomes a Woman Most? (Published 2014)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/movies/advanced-style-about-fashion-plates-of-a-certain-vintage.html|access-date=2020-11-18|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|last=Considine|first=Austin|date=2011-09-28|title=If Holly Golightly Had a Grandson (Published 2011)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/29/fashion/putting-fashion-cameras-focus-on-older-women-up-close.html|access-date=2020-11-18|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news|last=Oliver|first=Simone S.|date=2014-10-13|title=What to Wear This Week: Oct. 13 (Published 2014)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/13/fashion/what-to-wear-this-week-oct-13.html|access-date=2020-11-18|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|date=2011-10-28|title=Beauty Bag: Corey Lynn Calter's must-have makeup picks|url=https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2011/10/beauty-bag-corey-lynn-calters-must-have-makeup-picks.html|access-date=2020-11-18|website=LA Times Blogs - All The Rage|language=en-US}}
An essay about Smithkin was featured in Bill Hayes' book, Insomniac City: New York, Oliver Sacks, and Me.{{Cite web|last=Admin|first=Web|date=2020-05-04|title=Ilona Royce-Smithkin Turns 100|url=http://westviewnews.org/2020/05/03/ilona-royce-smithkin-turns-100/web-admin/|access-date=2020-11-18|website=WESTVIEW NEWS|language=en-US}}{{Cite book|last=Smithkin|first=Ilona Royce|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jO5tzQEACAAJ|title=Ninety-Nine: Straight Up, No Chaser|date=2020-03-27|publisher=John Lucas|isbn=978-0-578-66065-3|language=en}}{{Cite book|last1=Lucas|first1=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3LNwAEACAAJ|title=Ilona at 96|last2=Smithkin|first2=Ilona Royce|date=2016-09-30|publisher=Fourth Chakra House|isbn=978-0-692-78367-2|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Hayes|first=Bill|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_bmcDAAAQBAJ&q=ilona+smithkin+interview|title=Insomniac City: New York, Oliver Sacks, and Me|date=2017-02-14|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|isbn=978-1-62040-495-9|language=en}}
Demi Moore, Dita Von Teese, and actor Erik Liberman have cited Smithkin among their influences. Moore and Von Teese endorsed Smithkin's last book.{{Cite web |date=2021-08-04 |title=Demi Moore shares new heartbreak with fans |url=https://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/20210804118915/demi-moore-heartbreak-death-ilona-royce-smithkin/ |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=HELLO! |language=en}}{{Cite web |title='Advanced Style' movie finds beauty in aging |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/sc-fash-1103-advanced-style-movie-20141028-story.html |access-date=2023-04-17 |website=Chicago Tribune|date=28 October 2014 }}
References
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Category:20th-century Polish women artists
Category:20th-century American women artists
Category:20th-century Polish women writers
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:Art Students League of New York alumni
Category:Polish women centenarians
Category:American women centenarians