Available Works or Citations from Art
Charles L. Sallee, painter and graphic artist was born in Oberlin, Ohio in 1911. He studied at Karamu House, the Institute of Art and earned a B.S. from Western Reserve University in 1939. After teaching in Cleveland Schools he worked on WPA projects as a printmaker and mural painter. During World War II he worked as a cartographer and camouflage…
Hughie Lee-Smith’s art conveys the alienation and isolation experienced by many African Americans during the middle decades of the twentieth century, yet his work speaks in larger terms about our inability to reach out and connect with others on grounds larger than race. Although Lee-Smith was a direct contemporary of Jacob Lawerence, his art followed a different trajectory, adopting an…
Elmer W. Brown (American, 1909-1971) Relief print, Linocut, prints
Hughie Lee-Smith was born in Eustis, Florida, lived in Atlanta until 1925, when he moved to Cleveland. He began attending art classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art and later graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1938. While in Cleveland, he became active at Karamu House as an actor, dancer, set designer, and teacher. He worked in the…
William E. Smith (American 1913-1997)
Charles L. Sallee, painter and graphic artist was born in Oberlin, Ohio in 1911. He studied at Karamu House, the Institute of Art and earned a B.S. from Western Reserve University in 1939. After teaching in Cleveland Schools he worked on WPA projects as a printmaker and mural painter. During World War II he worked as a cartographer and camouflage…
Like many other artists of the Cold War era, Hughie Lee-Smith explored themes of exclusion and alienation in his paintings. He believed that the African American experience in particular was one of rejection and isolation and his feelings of racial disparity frequently influenced his work. In The Stranger, a lone figure stands in the foreground engulfed by a brown and…
Elmer W. Brown (American, 1909-1971). Linocut, prints
Three Shadows, a view from above of three young girls walking in the Bronx, would have been an entirely different image if taken from ground level. From Adger Cowans’ elevated viewpoint, the girl’s shadows stretch far in front of them, suggesting that whatever their actual height, they have the potential to be towering figures. One of Adger Cowan iconic images,…
Fred Carlo (American 1911-1987) Linocut, prints