Vincent Smith

Vincent Smith (1929-2003)

Smith, a Brooklyn-born painter and printmaker, quit his fulltime job as a postal worker in 1953 to focus on his artistic development. He studied at the Brooklyn Museum Art School (1954-1956) and the Skowhegan School of Painting (1955). In support of the Black Arts Movement’s goal to foster black artistic production, he created genre scenes chronicling urban, class-based experiences. His pictorial style utilizes texture and bright or monochromatic colors to flatten figures, perspective, and space.

Important Source Material

Smith, Vincent DaCosta, Louis Abrons Art Center, and Henry Street Settlement. Riding on a Blue Note: Monoprints and Works on Paper on Jazz Themes. New York: NY, 1990.

Green, Nancy. Dreams, Myths and Realities: A Vincent Smith Retrospective. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 2001.

JEN