Hughie Lee-Smith
Hughie Lee-Smith (b. 1915, Eustis, Florida; d. 1999, Albuquerque, New Mexico) was a painter whose surreal compositions reflect the social alienation of mid-twentieth century American life. Lee-Smith came of age in the midst of the Great Depression, spending his early life between Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit. He studied at the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts and the Cleveland School of Art, and became involved in Karamu House, the oldest running Black theater in the nation. The Midwest left an indelible influence on Lee-Smith–his early Social Realist paintings often made reference to its expansive gray skies and industrial architecture. Teaching would take him to the East Coast, where he was an instructor at the Art Students League in New York City and later acting head of the art department at Howard University in Washington, DC, a stronghold of the Black Arts Movement. Even as his environment changed, the visual vernacular of the Midwest remained in Lee-Smith’s work: pendants and ribbons from traveling carnivals, crumbling brick buildings, and vast landscapes in which figures, lost in thought, stand with their backs to the viewer. His paintings bear traces of Surrealist influence, in particular Georgio de Chirico, as well as the French Neoclassical painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Lee-Smith left behind an idiosyncratic body of work: his painted world abides by the otherworldly logic of dreams and symbols, evidence of a lifelong effort to see beyond the real.
Hughie Lee-Smith’s work has been exhibited in retrospectives at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (1988), the New Jersey State Museum, Trenton (1988), and at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Maine (1997). His work is held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Smithsonian Museum, Washington, DC; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Detroit Institute of Art; the Studio Museum in Harlem; the San Diego Museum of Art; Howard University, Washington, DC; and the Schomburg Center of Research in Black Culture, New York, among others.
Born 1915, Eustis, Florida
Died 1999, Albuquerque, New Mexico
EDUCATION
1953
BS in Art Education, Wayne State University, Detroit
1938
Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
John Huntington Polytechnic Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts & Crafts, Detroit, Michigan
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Karma, Los Angeles
Karma, New York
2013
Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, Michigan, Hughie Lee-Smith: Meditations
2011
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, Hughie Lee-Smith: The 1950s, Major Paintings
2000
June Kelly Gallery, New York, Memorial Exhibition
1999
Lake County Historical Museum, Lake County, Florida
1997
The Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, Maine, Hughie Lee-Smith: A Retrospective, organized and curated by Dr. Michael Culver
Milton Rhodes Gallery, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Of time and space … paintings by Hughie Lee-Smith
1996
Malcolm Brown Gallery, Shaker Heights, Ohio, Hughie Lee-Smith: Cleveland Visionary
1995
Bristol-Myers Squibb Gallery, Princeton, New Jersey, Hughie Lee-Smith: Overview, 1949-1995
1994
June Kelly Gallery, New York, Watercolors
1993
Flushing Town Hall, New York, Hughie Lee-Smith Selected Paintings
1991
June Kelly Gallery, New York, New Paintings
1990
Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina
1989
June Kelly Gallery, New York, The Presence of Something Profound and Mysterious
Armory Art Gallery, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, Virginia
1988
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey, Hughie Lee-Smith Retrospective Exhibition
Travelled to: The Cultural Center, Chicago; Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; Studio Museum, Harlem, New York
June Kelly Gallery, New York, Hughie Lee-Smith: The Romantic Realist
Malcolm Brown Gallery, Shaker Heights, Ohio
1987
Isobel Neal Gallery, Chicago
1986
Art Center of Battle Creek, Battle Creek, Michigan
1984
Malcolm Brown Gallery, Shaker Heights, Ohio
Community Renewal Team Craftery Gallery, Hartford, Connecticut
The Century Association, New York
1982
Summit Gallery of Art, New York
1977
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan
1974
San Giuseppe Gallery, College of Mount St. Joseph on-the-Ohio, St. Joseph, Ohio
1973
Grand Central Art Gallery, New York
1971
J.L. Hudson Company, Detroit
Arwin Galleries, Detroit
1969
Bergman Galleries, University of Chicago, Chicago
1968
Grand Central Art Galleries, New York
1966
Detroit Artists Market, Detroit, Michigan
Forsyth Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan
1958
Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Petite Gallery/Janet Nessler Gallery, New York
1954
Anna Werbe Gallery, Detroit
Forsythe Gallery, Ann Arbor, Michigan
1953
Garelick Gallery, Detroit
1950
Ten Thirty Gallery, Cleveland
1945
South Side Community Art Center, Chicago
Snowden Gallery, Chicago
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
70 Main Street, Thomaston, Maine, A Particular Kind of Heaven
2022
The Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, Our Walls: Real and Imagined
Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Malibu, California, The Cultivators: Highlights from the Kinsey African American Art and History Collection
Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, Saginaw, Michigan, HAROLD NEAL & DETROIT AFRICAN AMERICAN ARTISTS, 1945 Through The Black Arts Movement
2021
The Art Students League, New York, Creating Community: Cinque Gallery Artists
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, In American Waters: The Sea in American Painting.
Travelled to: Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arizona
Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia, Extra Ordinary: Magic, Mystery and Imagination in American Realism
The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora, College Park, Maryland, American Landscapes
2019-20
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Detroit Collects: Selections of African American Art from Private Collections
2019
The Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio, For America: Paintings from the National Academy of Design, organized in collaboration with the American Federation of Arts.
Travelled to: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut; The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Florida; Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee; New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento.
Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York, Self in the City: Highlights from the Collections of the Hudson River Museum and Art Bridges
Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, Black Refractions: Highlights from The Studio Museum in Harlem.
Travelled to: Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan; Smith College Museum of Art, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts; Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City; Frye Art Museum, Seattle.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., African American Art in the 20th Century.
Travelled to: Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, Iowa; Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida; The Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania; Wichita Art Museum, Wichita, Kansas; Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York.
2018
Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio, African American Masterpieces: Permanent Collection Highlights
McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Something to Say: The McNay Presents 100 Years of African American Art
2016
Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, Michigan, Common Ground
2014
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, Solitary Soul
2012
David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, Successions: Prints by African American Artists from the Jean & Robert Steele Collection
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Full Spectrum: Prints from the Brandywine Workshop
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., African-American Art: Harem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era and Beyond
2011
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, Otherworldliness
Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage, Beachwood, Ohio, Hardship to Hope: African American Art from the Karamu Workshop
2008
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, African American Art: 200 Years
2006
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, Building Community: The African American Scene
Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan, American Perspectives: Highlights of Works by African American Artists from the Collection of the FIA
2003
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, X
2002
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, IX
2001
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, VIII
Travelled to: Texas Southern University Museum, Houston
2000
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, VII
Travelled to: Appleton Museum of Art, Ocala, Florida
1999
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, VI
Travelled to: Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan
Robert Henry Adams Fine Art, Chicago, African American Art in Chicago, 1900-1950
1998
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, V
Travelled to: The Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans
1997
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, IV
Travelled to: Fisk University Galleries, Nashville, Tennessee
Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York, Revisiting American Art: Works from the Collections of Historically Black Colleges and Universities
1996
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, III
1995
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks, II
Travelled to: Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California
1994
Krasdale Gallery, White Plains, New York, Empowerment: The Art of African American Artists
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, African-American Art: 20th Century Masterworks
San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, The Harmon and Harriet Kelley Collection of African American Art
Travelled to: El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso; Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta; Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee
1983
Evans-Tibbs Collection, Washington D.C., Surrealism and the Afro-American Artist
1978
Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York/Chicago: WPA and the Black Artist
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Museum of African-American Art, Tampa, Florida
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, Los Angeles
Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Johnson Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois
The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio
Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Grosse Pointe War Memorial Association, Michigan
Flint Institute of Art, Flint, Michigan
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
University of Michigan at Dearborn, Dearborn, Michigan
Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
Center for Creative Studies, College of Art and Design, Detroit, Michigan
Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut
National Academy of Design, New York
Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York
Chase Manhattan Bank, New York
Forbes Magazine Collection, New York
Neuberger Museum of Art, SUNY/Purchase, New York
Kidder & Peabody Co., Inc., New York
Lotos Club, New York
Reader’s Digest, Pleasantville, New York
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York
The Century Association, New York
U.S. Post Office, New York
The State of New York, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., State Office Building, New York
Bristol-Myers Squibb, Princeton, New Jersey
AT&T, New Jersey
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton, New Jersey
Alain Locke Society, Princeton University, New Jersey
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania
Kutztown State College, Pennsylvania Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida
Howard University Art Collection, Washington D.C.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C.
The Navy Museum, US Navy Art Collection, Washington D.C.
University of the District of Columbia, Washington D.C.
National Museum of American Art, Washington D.C.
University of the District of Columbia, Washington D.C.
The Corcoran Museum of Art, Washington D.C.
The Evans-Tibbs Collection, Washington D.C.
U.S. Navy Art Center, Navy Yard, Washington D.C.
Banneker-Douglass Museum, Annapolis, Maryland
Museum of International Art, Sofia, Bulgaria
Lagos Museum, Nigeria
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego
Delaware Art Museum, Delaware
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston
AWARDS
1998
Hughie Lee-Smith Day: January 16, 1998, Eustis, Florida
Official Key to the City of Eustis, Florida
1996
Medal of Merit, Lotos Club
Benjamin West Clinedinst Medal, Artist’s Fellowship, Inc.
PUBLICATIONS
2010
Hughie Lee-Smith (The David C. Driskell Series of African American Art)
Leslie King-Hammond, Hughie Lee-Smith
Pomegranate Communications, Petaluma, California
124 pages, hardcover
11 1/4 × 9 inches
1995
Hughie Lee-Smith: An Overview 1949-1995
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, New Jersey
24 pages
7 4/5 × 10 1/5 inches
1988
Hughie Lee-Smith: Retrospective Exhibition
New Jersey State Museum, Trenton
40 pages
8 3/5 × 11 inches
1988
Joining Forces: Hughie Lee-Smith and John W. Rhoden
Montclair State College Art Gallery, Montclair, New Jersey
16 pages
8 3/5 × 11 inches
