Hughie Lee-Smith
His dreamlike, empty cityscapes took shape during nearly two decades in Detroit.
This artist's work is shown through the museum and artist links on this page while it remains under copyright or awaits a permission-cleared image.
Lee-Smith was born in Eustis, Florida, and trained at the Cleveland School of Art. He moved to Detroit around 1940 and worked about three years as a core maker in a Ford factory, then served in the Navy.
He studied at the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts and earned his art education degree at Wayne State University in 1953. The Detroit Institute of Arts awarded him prizes in 1951, 1953 and 1957, before he left for New York in 1958.
Known for spare scenes of solitary figures, empty settings and circus-like props, he became the second African American elected to the National Academy of Design, in 1967. He also painted the official portrait of New York Mayor David Dinkins.