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HUGHIE LEE-SMITH (1915 - 1999)
Rooftops
.
Oil on linen canvas, 1961. 610x457 mm; 24x18 inches. Signed in oil, upper left.
Provenance: the artist, NewYork; Janet Nassler Gallery, NewYork; private collection, NewYork (1962).
This painting has remained in the collection of the original owner for over 50 years.The artist had
solo exhibitions at the Janet Nassler gallery in 1960, 1962 and 1964; the gallery closed in 1965.
Rooftops
is a fascinating example of Hughie Lee-Smith’s early 1960s work in NewYork where he
continued painting rooftops scenes as he had in Detroit.This was a mature period in Lee-Smith’s
career after his many, early successes in the 1950s, including winning the Emily Lowe Award for
painting in 1957. He moved to NewYork in 1958 where he lived in the East Village.
In
Rooftops
, Lee-Smith shows a singular economy and clarity in his vision.With little drama, he
evokes the existentialism of the Civil Rights era—the deterioration of America’s urban areas during
periods of great growth and prosperity. In this painting, Lee-Smith lets the window and pole serves
as the central elements under a hazy sky.
Like his earlier WPA period drawings and prints, this painting shows the artist’s continued interest
in portraying the changing urban environments. Lee-Smith continues to paint scenes that harken
back not just to Detroit, but his life in Cleveland during the Depression. Lee-Smith wrote the
following description on the verso of a woodcut from 1939, but it could easily describe the scene
he painted here:
“I had watched the Central Avenue area rapidly deteriorating, its houses falling down, and too many
of its people going to pieces as well. It depressed me beyond words. I could only express my feeling
about it all by drawing, not that drawing was altogether realistic.The way I felt about it got blended
with the way it actually looked.” Marion p. 16 and 22.
[25,000/35,000]
