Hughie Lee-Smith (1915-1999)
Lee-Smith was born in Eustis, Florida in 1915 and then settled in Cleveland in 1925. Attended art classes at the Cleveland Museum before graduating from East Technical High School in 1934. He then studied at John Huntington Polytechnic Institute and then with the GI Bill, Detroit’s Society of Arts and Crafts with John Carroll and Sarkis Sarkisian. Afterwards attended the Cleveland School of Arts. As with many artists, he worked for the National Youth Administration, of the Works Progress Administration.
His artwork was Social Realist images of lynching, police brutality, factories and desolate, Dust Bowl landscapes. He was familiar with many other African American artists including activist Paul Robeson and poet Langston Hughes. His later work became more surrealist, possible inspired by white Chicago surrealists.
He moved to Detroit in 1940 and worked for the Ford Motor Company. He was involved with the National Negro Congress and the Congress of Industrial Organizations-United Auto Workers groups with ties to the Communist Party of the US. He was investigated by the FBI. He met Oliver LaGrone and bother were active in UAW.
He was most successful as an African American artist in Detroit in the 1950s. He was included in every Annual Exhibition for Michigan Artists at the Detroit Institute of Art, winning prizes from 1950-1957. He showed at many galleries such as the Detroit Artist Market and his work purchased by prestigious patrons. In 1958 he moved to New York but continued to show
His artwork was Social Realist images of lynching, police brutality, factories and desolate, Dust Bowl landscapes. He was familiar with many other African American artists including activist Paul Robeson and poet Langston Hughes. His later work became more surrealist, possible inspired by white Chicago surrealists.
He moved to Detroit in 1940 and worked for the Ford Motor Company. He was involved with the National Negro Congress and the Congress of Industrial Organizations-United Auto Workers groups with ties to the Communist Party of the US. He was investigated by the FBI. He met Oliver LaGrone and bother were active in UAW.
He was most successful as an African American artist in Detroit in the 1950s. He was included in every Annual Exhibition for Michigan Artists at the Detroit Institute of Art, winning prizes from 1950-1957. He showed at many galleries such as the Detroit Artist Market and his work purchased by prestigious patrons. In 1958 he moved to New York but continued to show