E D W A R D S Z M Y D
1933-2004
Bill and Jennifer Hill, and the staff at New Masters Gallery offer our sincere condolences and sympathy to the family and friends of Mr. Szmyd. His loss will be greatly felt throughout the national and international art community.
" May he rest amongst the beauty he has created"
"Art collectors and [experts]... from around the world are offering nothing but the highest praise for Edward Szmyd, the painter identified as of of the greatest artists of his era... Edward Szmyd died Thursday, December 30 here [ Blowing Rock, NC] in his beloved mountains, amid the landscapes, so frequently masterfully captured in his paintings. His work was his love and he was able to depict reality so truthfully that seems unreal-and that was his unique statement abut nature and bearty,confirmed by his own words. ' Some people call my paintings realistic' he said. 'I call them idealistic. They're more real than real.'
"Inspired by the Great Masters of the Renaissance, Edward Szmyd began painting at the age of nine, some sixty years ago in his native Pennsylvania. It was actually during World War II when the United States was pulling itself out of the Great Depression, Ed Szmyd began his art career winning a poster contest in fifth grade. His subject then, drawn during a rather dark time, has been one of his main subjects ever since; beautiful, elegant gardens.
"As he entered high school, noted artists and critics were identifying him as an artistic genius and even his teachers began to compete for the privilege of purchasing his watercolors, drawings and oil paintings.....
"During an interview with the [Blowing Rocket, Blowing Rock's newspaper] in 1997 he said "I was always interested in making something look better that it was. I saw the wilted flower in the garden as tit should be, vibrant and alive with beauty. That is what I painted."
"For the next sixty years Szmyd succeeded in that mission, again and again, in finding beauty in the world around him, then capturing it on canvas in a way that is better, brighter and more beautiful than most can imagine.
"If my mother gave me a nickel to by a candy bar, I'd buy a pack of seeds instead," Szmyd said in the article. At one point he was growing 4,000 flowers of many varieties in three greenhouses until he found he had to quit to keep up his work as an artist. It was this love of flowers that carries over into his floral still lifes. He felt that in order to get the ideal arrangement of orchids or peonies, for example, more often that not he must grow them himself, then wait until the perfect moment when the buds open to begin translating the image to a painting. He spent hours finding the right light and arrangement so that his paintings captured the flowers at their very best, enhanced and frozen in time forever.
"Szmmd moved to Blowing Rock some twenty years ago, the result of a tug at his heart strings and love of beauty that wouldn't go away. Formerly lining and working Florida he kept remembering the quaint little gazebo in Blowing Rock's Memorial Park, a sight he saw during a brief visit here in 1983. Two years later he moved to the village an to his cliffside home on Green Hill......
"At his death, Ed Szmyd was considered internationally a master of both light and color. His style reflected his constant amazement at the beauty of the earth and his sun-drenched landscapes, gardens, and radiant flower pieces became his easily recognized trademark.
"To say his work became a highly sought after product by collectors around the world works be a great understatement of his popularity and influence internationally. His originals, which sold for $2,500 during his early years, are now in such high demand that most collectors are priced out of the market because a lot of art lovers couldn't readily afford the $100,000 price tag for his larger works. By 1992, Szmyd had to expand his repertoire to include smaller, less costly pieces,.....
"Since moving to Blowing Rock Szmyd has been a generous supporter of many community projects, from the arts to civic events and services that benefit the village and its residents.
"The unique thing about Edwas-he was not the lease bit obnoxious, not the lease bit tainted. He's one of the purest people-I'm speaking of the soul right now-that I know," said a friend. "He was a beautiful person, and like his paintings he just kept getting better and better."
Note: The above article was printed in "The Blowing Rocket" newspaper that was published on January 6, 2005.