Available Works or Citations from Art
A highly skilled printmaker, William Elijah Smith specialized in genre scenes of working-class African-American life in Cleveland. Born in Chattanooga, Smith moved to Cleveland at the age of 13 and became involved in the Karamu House, learning print making and stage design. He studied art at the Huntington Polytechnic Institute, 1933-1934. During his time he began teaching at Karamu House…
Prints became a popular art form in the 1930s during the Great Depression in the United States. Artists like Smith exploited the expressionist power of such techniques as woodcutting and linoleum cutting, carving deep furrows into the print block to create stark contrasts of black and white. One of several African American printmakers who gathered around the Karamu House in…
Hughie Lee-Smith (American, Eustis, Florida 1915-1999 Albuquerque, New Mexico. Watercolor on paper. Drawings
In the Mother and Child plate of 1957 in the foundation’s collection, the African female figure wears a neckpiece that bears similarities to this pendant.
In the Mother and Child plate of 1957 in the foundation’s collection, a somewhat similar bird is represented in the background to the right of the female figure’s left shoulder.
Sterling Hykes often chose subjects for his enamel plaques and plates that reflect his interest in African art and his African American heritage. This work feature the image of an African woman with a stylized hat, a prominent neckpiece and a distinctive patterned dress, a small child positioned in front wearing a similarly stylized hat, flowers and a bird in…
In 2001, Cleveland portrait photographer Herb Ascherman began an ambitious personal project to document 105 of Northeast Ohio’s most prominent visual artists in their studios. For this animated portrait, Reverend Albert Wagner (1924 – 2006) — a prolific folk artist of many media – was positioned in front of a fraction of his artworks that completely filled his three-story home…
African American artist William E. Smith was affiliated with the Karamu House in Cleveland in the 1930s. Karamu House, which still thrives today, is one of the oldest African American theaters and art educational institutions in the United States. This work is indicative of the artist’s desire to bring the struggles of the Black community to broader public visibility during…