William Twigg-Smith was a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

-born painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

 and musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, who lived most of his life in Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

. During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he was one of the first artists to serve in the American Camouflage

Camouflage

Camouflage is a method of concealment that allows an otherwise visible animal, military vehicle, or other object to remain unnoticed, by blending with its environment. Examples include a leopard's spotted coat, the battledress of a modern soldier and a leaf-mimic butterfly...

 Corps.

Early life

Twigg-Smith was born in Nelson, New Zealand

Nelson, New Zealand

Nelson is a city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay, and is the economic and cultural centre of the Nelson-Tasman region. Established in 1841, it is the second oldest settled city in New Zealand and the oldest in the South Island....

. He left home for the U.S. to study art at age 16 under Harry M. Walcott at the Art Institute of Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...

. In 1916, he moved to Hawaii, where he worked with Lionel Walden

Lionel Walden

Lionel Walden was born in Norwich, Connecticut in 1861. He first became interested in art in Minnesota, where the family moved when his father became rector of an Episcopal Church there. As a young man, Walden moved to Paris where he studied painting with Carolus-Duran. In around 1893-97,...

 and D. Howard Hitchcock on the Pan-Pacific Carnival dioramas that were exhibited in 1917. In the same year, he held his first art exhibit in Hawaii, in an exhibition sponsored by the Hawaii Society of Artists.

World War I

When the U.S. entered World War I in 1917, Twigg-Smith enlisted in the U.S. Army, and after camouflage training at Camp American University in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, was sent to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 as part of the American Camouflage Corps.

The others of the first four members of that unit were artists Sherry Edmundson Fry

Sherry Edmundson Fry

Sherry Edmundson Fry was an American sculptor, who also played a prominent role in U.S. Army camouflage during World War I.-Early years:...

, Everett Herter (the brother of U.S. statesman Christian Herter

Christian Herter

Christian Archibald Herter was an American politician and statesman; 59th governor of Massachusetts from 1953 to 1957, and United States Secretary of State from 1959 to 1961.-Early life:...

) and Barry Faulkner

Barry Faulkner

Barry Faulkner was an American artist who was primarily known for his murals. During World War I, he and sculptor Sherry Edmundson Fry organized artists for training as camouflage specialists , an effort that contributed to the founding of the American Camouflage Corps in 1917.-Background:Faulkner...

. In his autobiography, Faulkner recalls that when he, along with Fry and Herter, first arrived at their tent, "we found a minstrel [Twigg-Smith], easing his solitude by playing Hawaiian airs on a ukelele. He came from the islands and was pleasant and companionable".

Later life

After the war, Twigg-Smith returned permanently to Hawaii. On July 9, 1919 he married Margaret Carter Thurston (1895–1931), daughter of Lorrin A. Thurston

Lorrin A. Thurston

Lorrin Andrews Thurston was a lawyer, politician, and businessman born and raised in the Kingdom of Hawaii. The grandson of two of the first Christian missionaries to Hawaii, Thurston played a prominent role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom that replaced Queen Liliuokalani with the...

 who had led the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893. Their son Thurston Twigg-Smith

Thurston Twigg-Smith

-Biography:Twigg-Smith is a fifth generation Hawaii resident. He was born in 1921 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is the son of William and Margaret Thurston Twigg-Smith , making him the great-great grandson of Asa and Lucy Goodale Thurston as well as Lorrin Andrews — who were pioneer missionaries to the...

 would eventually take over the Honolulu Advertiser

Honolulu Advertiser

The Honolulu Advertiser was a daily newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the largest daily newspaper in the American state of Hawaii. It published daily with special Sunday and Internet editions...

 from Lorrin's son. In 1923, he was hired as a full time illustrator for the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association

Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association

Founded in 1895, the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association was an unincorporated, voluntary organization of sugar plantation owners in the Hawaiian Islands. Its objective was to promote the mutual benefits of its members and the development of the sugar industry in the islands. It conducted...

. Four years later, he was given a solo exhibition at the Honolulu Academy of Arts

Honolulu Academy of Arts

The Honolulu Academy of Arts is an art museum in Honolulu in the state of Hawaii. Since its founding in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke and opening April 8, 1927, its collections have grown to over 40,000 works of art.-Description:...

. In addition to being a painter and illustrator, he was a musician and served as second flutist for the Honolulu Symphony

Honolulu Symphony

The Honolulu Symphony, also known as the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, was founded in 1900. The Honolulu Symphony is the oldest symphony orchestra in the USA west of the Rocky Mountains. Originally housed in a clubhouse on the slopes of Punchbowl, the Honolulu Symphony now plays from the Neal S...

.

Throughout his life in Hawaii, he painted landscapes, seascapes, fishing activities, harbors, urban scenes, gardens, sugar cane fields and volcanoes. The Honolulu Academy of Arts holds several of his works. He died in 1950 in Kona, Hawaii.