Houghton Cranford Smith captured landscapes from the East Coast of the United States to locations as far flung as Jamaica, France, and Chile. Throughout these global explorations, he developed a singular style, painting spare and stylized landscapes in muted colors. Born in New Jersey, Smith studied under William Merritt Chase and Kenneth Hayes Miller at New York's Art Students League, and with Charles Hawthorne at his outdoor painting school on Cape Cod. In Paris, he enrolled at the Académie Julian, where he studied under Amédée Ozenfant, the eventual founder—along with Le Corbusier—of Purism.