Description
Charles William Smith was an American painter, printmaker and art professor. A native of Virginia, he studied at the University of Virginia, the Corcoran Art School, and the Yale University School of Fine Arts. He is best known for his linoleum block and woodcut prints, and his block paintings, which took a more abstract approach. He exhibited throughout the U.S., including solo shows at the Willard Gallery in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Modern Art, and many more. Smith produced several illustrated books beginning in 1925. Many of these portrayed Virginia’s historic places: Old Virginia in Block Prints (chosen as one of the “Fifty Books of the Year” for 1929 by the American Institute of Graphic Arts), Old Charleston (1933) and The University of Virginia (1937). He also published a book of abstract prints and Experiments in Relief Printing (1954). He had a long career as an educator, including serving as chair of the art department at Bennington College in Vermont from 1936 to 1947, and from 1947 to 1963 at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where he spent the remainder of his life.
Full publication information: “Offset Lithography By Garrett & Massie, Inc. – Richmond, Virginia. Copyrighted 1930 by Charles W. Smith.”
Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning, wear, handling, soft creases. Short marginal tear, slight weaknesses in paper professionally restored verso with Japanese tissue.
References:
“A Historical Map of Virginia.” WorldCat.org. http://www.worldcat.org/title/historical-map-of-virginia/oclc/16661340/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true (8 March 2013).
Gilbert, Dorothy B., ed. Who’s Who in American Art. New York: American Federation of Arts and R.R. Bowker, 1959. pp. 530-531.
Murden, John. “The block prints of Charles W. Smith.” Church Hill People’s News. 6 July 2011. http://chpn.net/news/2011/07/06/the-block-prints-of-charles-w-smith_18468/ (8 March 2013).
