Hughie Lee-Smith

 

 

 

Hughie Lee-Smith

 

Lee-Smith was born in Eustis, Florida in 1915. Before working with the WPA, he ran track with Jessie Owens and earning a deree from Wayne State, he  began to learn printmaking at the Karamu House in Cleveland. Karamu is Kiswahili for "a place of joyful gathering". Karamu is the oldest, producing African American theatre in the nation but has also historically been a home for printmakers, dancers, actors, and writers.

 

Lee-Smith died in 1999. His prints are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian and the Detroit Institute of Art.

 

As a printmaker, Hughie Lee-Smith is best known for his series, “The Artist's Life" which dictates, his early life in Cleveland during the Great Depression. Check out the subtle description of his life: a policeman beating a worker, closed factories, etc..

 

Lee-Smith was a strong drawer and highly experimental printmaker. We could easily spend this time detailing his range as a printmaker,  but today lets focus on his portraits and mono prints.

 

 

 

 

The Artist's Life No.1, 1939

Lithograph

 

 

 

Untitled (Woman's Head) , 1985

Pencil on paper

 

 

 

Untitled (Head of a Woman), 1970

Monotype

 

 

 

 

Untitled (Head of a Woman), 1970

Monotype

 

 

 

Head of a woman with curly hair , 1969

Monotype

 

 

 

 Untitled (Face and figure study) , 1969

 Monotype

 

Please check out the YouTube Version:

 

 

“Jacob Lawrence: The Life of Toussaint L’Ouverture”. Joel Elgin Athraigh Studio

 

Today's post features the printmaker Jacob Lawrence's series of silk screens depicting Toussaint L’Ouverture, the mastermind behind the Haitian Revolution.

 

 

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000), is more well known than many of the other printmakers recently featured by Athraigh Studios. We might know his prints in general but let’s take a specific look at his brilliant series, the “Toussaint L'Ouverture.”

 

Content first: Jacob Lawrence is depicting Toussaint L’Ouverture the mastermind behind the Haitian Revolution. In the last years of the 1700’s Toussaint L’Ouverture won independence from Europe, defeated Napoleon’s army, and brought Haiti out of slavery. In 1804, after the people who were then referred to as “slaves” won their freedom by force, Haiti became the first black republic in the West.

 

Form: In 1936, at the age of 21, Jacob Lawrence created 41 paintings of the life of L’Ouverture. In 1986, Lawrence produced 15 silk screens inspired by the original paintings.

 

I’ve included only 3 images from the series for today’s presentation but I encourage you two go to the following link to see the entire series, including a description written by Lawrence of each print.

 

https://www.davidsongalleries.com/artists/modern/jacob-lawrence/toussaint-louverture/

 

 

 

Strategy

Silk screen on Rising two ply rag paper, 1994

Deception

 

 

 

 

General Toussaint L'Ouverture

Silk screen on Bainbridge two ply rag paper, 1986

 

 

 

 

To Preserve Their Freedom

Silk screen on Bainbridge two ply rag paper, 1988

 

Please check out the video of the exhibition: