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William E. Smith (1913-1997)

2 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

“[Smith’s work is the] humor and pathos of Negro Life captured in line and color.” ~ Langston Hughes William Elijah Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1913, and moved to Cleveland in 1927, when he decided he wanted to be an artist. This endeavor was supported by his mother, but not his father. Because of this, Smith left home in 1932 and became involved with the Karamu House, the oldest African American theater in the country. He won exhibition prizes there, and eventually a five year Gilpin scholarship to study at the John Huntington Polytechnic Institute. The Gilpin Players, named after the actor, Charles Gilpin, was a theater troupe that performed at the Karamu House. The Gilpin Players’ mission, among other things, was to support arts education and programs for African American artists. The John Huntington Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1918, brought additional opportunities to access and master the operation of a large scale printing press. Smith showed his work in 19 exhibitions with the Karamu Artists, a mutual support group associated with the Karamu House that traveled exhibitions to outside venues. He participated in 9 exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art from 19351949. Smith continued his art education at the Cleveland Museum School of Art, studying illustration and advertisement, and after his stint in the Army, he opened

his own graphic arts studio. In the late 1940s he was the art director for an advertising agency. In 1949, when his brother died, he moved to Los Angeles where his sister lived. In 1951, he was part of Eleven Associated Artists, Inc., a co-op founded in downtown Los Angeles on South Hill Street, to help support and promote the group’s work. It was the first Black art gallery in downtown Los Angeles. Smith’s studio in Los Angeles was located at 2637 South Hauser Blvd. REF: Karamu Artists Inc. Printmaking, Race, and Community, Britany Salsbury and Erin Benay, Cleveland Museum of Art, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2025 Yet Still We Rise, African American Art in Cleveland 1920-1970, Cleveland Artists Foundation, 1996 Impressions Expressions, Black American Graphics, The Studio Museum in Harlem, 1979 [“Galleries like Brockman and Gallery 32 in addition to groups like Art West and the Black Arts Council all fostered creative networks that were essential for survival in the art world to counteract the practices that enabled the exclusion within it.” —The Unknown Collective of Eleven Associated, Culture Shock Art.] C

Black Art Auction • 3

Moon Lite No. 1, 1939

linocut 6 x 8 inches (image) 8 x 10 inches (sheet) signed, dated, titled, and numbered 1/1

4 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Days Work Done, 1938-1941 offset lithograph of an earlier linocut, hand-colored 8-3/4 x 7-3/4 inches (image) 11 x 8-1/2 inches (sheet) printed signature and title, signature stamp; artist’s label verso with alternative title, Day is Done. Hand-written artist address: P.O. Box 19111A, Los Angeles, CA

Black Art Auction • 5

My Son, My Son, 1938 offset lithograph after an earlier linocut, hand colored 9 x 6-1/2 inches (image) 11 x 8-1/2 inches (sheet) dated and titled on verso

6 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Another Day, 1978 linocut 7-3/4 x 7-3/4 inches (image) 12-1/2 x 9-3/4 inches (sheet) signed, dated, and numbered 5/10

Black Art Auction • 7

Native Son, 1938

linocut 13-1/2 x 6 inches (image) 15-1/4 x 7-3/4 inches (sheet) signed, titled, dated, and numbered 2/30

8 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Black Art Auction • 9

Poverty and Fatigue, 1940 linocut 9 x 8 inches (image) 15 x 12 inches (sheet) signed, dated and titled

Illustrated: Alone in a Crowd (Prints from the 1930’s-40’s, from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams, 1993, p. 43.

10 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Blues Singer, 1978

linocut 8 x 7 inches (image) 12-1/2 x 9-3/4 inches (sheet) signed, dated, titled, and numbered 5/10 artist label verso with title and artist's address in Los Angeles

Black Art Auction • 11

Poverty and Fatigue, 1940

offset lithograph after an earlier linocut, hand-colored 9 x 8 inches (image) 15 x 12 inches (sheet) printed signature on mount artist label verso, with his address: P.O. Box 19111A Los Angeles, CA 90019 And another label: Poverty and Fatigue linoleum print 1940 8” x 9” Tired….unable to find employment. Makes it to the first step and sinks into it.

12 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Black Art Auction • 13

Pay Day, 1938 linocut 9-1/2 x 7 inches (image) 10-1/2 x 8-1/2 inches (sheet) signed, dated, and titled

14 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Black Art Auction • 15

16 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Dr. Martin Luther King (I Have a Dream), 1968

pen and ink 9-1/4 x 5 inches (image) signed and titled on mat in pencil artist's label on verso with title and medium, with his Los Angeles address

Black Art Auction • 17

Slumber, 1950

watercolor on paper 9 x 4-1/2 inches (image) 11 x 8-1/2 inches (sheet) signed, dated, and titled; also signed and titled verso

18 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Black Art Auction • 19

Portrait of a Woman (Jackie Kennedy), c. 1960’s

watercolor on paper 10 x 8-1/2 inches signed and inscribed, 1/15/4

20 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Dark Clouds, 1940 linocut with hand coloring 5-1/2 x 7 inches (image) 6-1/2 x 9 inches (sheet) signed, dated, and numbered; titled again on verso

Black Art Auction • 21

Jazz Trumpet, 1974

mixed media on tan paper 10-1/4 x 7-1/2 inches (image) signed, dated, and titled; ; titled again verso

22 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Portrait of a Boy, 1979

pen and ink on paper 13 x 10 inches (image) 14 x 10-1/2 inches (sheet) signed and dated

Black Art Auction • 23

Profile, 1965

watercolor on paper 14 x 9-3/4 inches (image) 15-3/4 x 11-3/4 inches (sheet) dated in pencil; stamped signature verso

24 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

War Fatigue, 1953 watercolor on paper 16 x 12-1/2 inches signed and dated signed again verso with title and artist’s address

Black Art Auction • 25

Politics, 1940

linocut 9-1/2 x 7 inches (image) 11 x 8-1/2 inches (sheet) signed and titled

26 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Blue and Pensive, c. 1930’s

linocut 12 x 9 inches (image) 14 x 11 inches (sheet) signed, titled and numbered, edition of 5

Black Art Auction • 27

Grief, 1976 linocut 11-3/4 x 9-3/4 inches (image) 17-1/2 x 12-1/4 inches (sheet) signed, dated, titled, and numbered 8/20 artist’s label verso with L.A. address

28 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Black Beauty, c. 1960’s

ink on acetate 13 x 9 inches (image) 14-1/2 x 10 inches (sheet) signed on verso with title and artist’s address artist’s label with biography and comments

Black Art Auction • 29

European Village Scene, 1945 watercolor on paper 11-1/2 x 8-3/4 inches (image) 13-3/4 x 9-3/4 inches (sheet) signed and dated, P.F.C. W. E. Smith This work was done while the artist was in Europe during WWII

30 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Black Art Auction • 31

Stable Boy, 1938-1939 (original design) offset lithograph from an earlier linocut 7-3/4 x 8-3/4 inches (image) 8-1/2 x 11 inches (sheet) signed, dated, and titled

32 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Ghetto Kid (Asian), 1977 linocut 12 x 9-3/4 inches (image) 14 x 12-1/2 inches (sheet) signed, dated, titled, and numbered 3/10

Black Art Auction • 33

The Waterfall, 1972 mixed media on paper 10-1/2 x 6 1/2 inches signed, dated, and titled artist’s label on verso, Los Angeles address

34 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Black Art Auction • 35

Ghetto Kid, 1970 linocut 11-1/2 x 10-1/4 inches (image) 14 x 12 inches (sheet) signed, dated, titled, and numbered 4/10

36 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Shut In, 1941 linocut with hand-coloring 9 x 7-1/2 inches (image) 11 x 11-1/2 inches (sheet) signed and titled

Black Art Auction • 37

38 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Nude, 1969 pastel and charcoal on paper 15-3/4 x 23-1/4 inches (image) 17-1/4 x 23-1/4 inches (sheet) initialed; signed verso with date

Black Art Auction • 39

Reclining Nude, 1969 pastel 14 x 22 inches (image) signed and dated artist’s name and address verso

40 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Seated Nude, 1969 pastel and charcoal 17 x 18-1/4 inches (image) signed and dated artist’s name and address verso

Black Art Auction • 41

African Dancers, 1970s gouache and ink on paper 12 x 18 inches (image) 14 x 20-1/4 inches (sheet) stamped signature

42 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Leaning Chimneys, 1938

offset lithograph from an earlier linocut 8 x 10 inches (image) 8-1/2 x 11 inches (sheet) printed signature, date, title, and number, 11/20

Black Art Auction • 43

Landscape (Town Scene), 1944/1946 watercolor 7-1/2 x 16 inches (image) signed and dated titled, artist’s L.A. address verso

44 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Black Art Auction • 45

Robert Kennedy, 1967 linocut 9 x 6 inches (image) 12 x 9 inches (sheet) signed, dated, titled and numbered 3/20

46 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Sweet Slumber, 1939 offset lithograph from an earlier linocut 9 x 6-1/4 inches (image) 11 x 8-1/2 inches (sheet) stamped signature, titled and dated on verso

Black Art Auction • 47

My Son, My Son, 1938-1941 linocut 11-3/4 x 9-3/4 inches (image) 14 x 12 inches (sheet) signed, titled, numbered 2/10 Illustrated: Impressions/Expressions, Black American Graphics, The Studio Museum in Harlem, October 7-January 6, 1980), Richard Powell, p. 46

48 • William E. Smith (1913-1997)

Black Art Auction • 49

I Too Have a Dream, 1969 linocut print 9 x 7 inches (image) 11 x 9-1/2 inches (sheet) Signed, dated, titled and numbered 2/10