"Untitled House/Barn"

11 x 14" print on canvas

by Maude S. Holt (1866-1952)

Maud Spiller Holt was an avid traveler and painter who painted in every American state and throughout much of Europe. Holt’s sketches and paintings expressed an appreciation of nature; Pacific seascapes, Texas bluebonnets, and Arkansas mountain landscapes were among her most recognized subjects. “If open to the secrets of nature,” she said, “we absorb them and they are ours.” In 1892, while in Paris, France, one of her still-life paintings was accepted for exhibit in the Salon at the Palais de l’Industrie.

Holt was an early participant in the Little Rock Fine Arts Club, an organization formed in 1914 that ultimately became the Arkansas Arts Center. Holt was among twelve artists whose works were selected, acquired, and displayed at the first permanent exhibit when the club’s gallery opened on May 15, 1928.
Holt authored and illustrated three books: Studio Talk (1939); A Travelogue through the Years (1940), an autobiographical account of her travels; and Devotion (1948), a collection of short stories.