Cotton and velour applique on canvas, 1978. 1016x762 mm; 40x30 inches. Signed and dated in ink, center panel.
Provenance: Ashanti Gallery, Los Angeles; private collection, Los Angeles, thence by descent; private collection.
A rare, unique work by Howard Smith who was widely exhibited in the US during the 1960s and 1970s. Smith became one of Finland's most important modern artists and designers after moving permanently there in the 1970s.
Expatriate painter, sculptor, and designer Howard Smith was born in Moorestown, NJ, and served in the U.S. Army in Japan, Korea, and West Germany before being honorably discharged in 1958. He then studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia from 1960-62. He made his first trip to Finland in 1962 as a member of the Young America Presents group. He stayed and his work was exhibited widely in Finland in the 1960s and 1970s. After moving to California in 1976, Smith returned to Finland in 1984. His work has recently been featured in the exhibition Nordic Utopia? African Americans in the 20th Century, curated by Dr. Ethelene Whitmire and Leslie Anne Anderson, March 23 - July 21, 2024, at the National Nordic Museum, Washington.
