Dear Editor,

If there’d ever been an Osage County artist laureate, without a doubt it would have been the late Ann Goldsmith. For more than 60 years, her name was synonymous with breathtaking oil paintings that captured every aspect of Kansas. Ann painted mostly on canvas, but also occasionally on rocks and furniture and mailboxes and much more. Mrs. Goldsmith passed away last December, followed by Raymond four months later.

Ann Goldsmith painting of rural Kansas farmstead.

She always told me her paintings were the children she was never able to have. And even when someone commissioned her to do a painting, it was hard to let it go. When one painting’s owner passed, Ann bought it back at auction in a bidding war that went high.

She was a prolific artist, slowed only as she started losing her eyesight 10 years ago. Her talent came naturally, and her passion for it was set in motion when a distant relative gave her instruction decades ago. Like everything else she did in life, she took that knowledge and ran with it, spending the rest of her life watching great artists explain their techniques on PBS, and always finding inspiration in most everything she saw.

Her big break came when Lyndon State Bank President Clyde Burns recognized her talent, asking Ann to stage a display of her works in the bank. And the rest is history. First, Lyndon residents fell in love with her work, then the county, then people all over the country. There are even some of her works hanging in homes overseas. It gave Ann great pleasure to know that even when she was physically gone, a large part of her legacy would live on in her paintings.

I’m her nephew, Jack Bowen, and speaking for Ann, I can tell you she loved Kansas, and she loved all of you who loved her and still love her paintings.

Kansans will have a chance to buy her final works at auction on the farm she shared with husband Raymond during their almost 73-year marriage. Ann’s artworks will be among many Goldsmith estate items auctioned beginning at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, July 16, at 26769 S. Ratner Road, Quenemo, Kan. Among the major beneficiaries of the estate are Help House of Lyndon, Salvation Army, KTWU-TV (PBS station in Topeka), and the Osage County Historical Society.

Sincerely,
Jack Bowen