Hughie-Lee Smith: A Retrospective

Appleton Museum of Art

of Florida State University and
Central Florida Community College

Ocala, Florida

352-236-7100

Hughie Lee-Smith

The Veil, 1989, oil

Hughie-Lee Smith: A Retrospective

January 13 - March 22, 1998

Hughie-Lee Smith, 82, born in Eustis, Florida, has been a painter for over six decades. Shaped by the Great Depression and the WPA artists of the late 1930s, Lee-Smith's earliest work was fired by social concerns and longing for a better, more democratic ideal for the future of America.

Hughie Lee-Smith

Circus Man, 1979, 34 x 30 inches

He was also the product of an era of concern, in which African-Americans sought intellectual and cultural ideals that aspire to "uplift" the race.

Through his steadfast pursuit of education, along with his on demanding standards of excellence, Lee-Smith, and his generation, sought to prove their worth as citizens within the democratic canons of the United States.

His work has been described as "magic realism," "surrealism." and "social realism." It pleases the eye and stimulates the imagination.

Lee-Smith's work is found in many public art collections including the Metropolitan Museum, The Detroit Institute of Art and the National Museum of American Art.

Text and images courtesy of Appleton Museum of Art.

rev. 11/26/10

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