The Washburn Gallery will celebrate Leon Polk Smith’s centenary year with an exhibition of paintings done in Smith’s early career from 1945 to 1950. For the introduction to the illustrated brochure, Robert T. Buck, former Director of the Brooklyn Museum and President of The Leon Polk Smith Foundation writes:
In the course of Smith’s six decade long artistic career, he established a reputation as an original, brilliantly innovative artist who created his own mode of perfected geometric painting…It is these early geometric paintings that this exhibition presents in concentrated focus and, as his breakthrough works, they comprise a most fitting tribute to his achievement during the 100th anniversary year of his birth. The works dating from 1945 into the early 50’s remind us of the skill and speed with which Smith was able to assimilate influences and create his own artistic voice. In no way are these paintings furtive or searching attempts from the hand of a beginning practitioner who is exploring his first non-objective abstract creations. They are declarative, self-confident creations differing from de Stijl stylistic vocabulary in many ways…
Leon Polk Smith (1906-1996) was born on his family’s farm near Ada, Oklahoma when it was still Indian Territory. Leon was the youngest of nine children in a family of Chickasaw descent. Unusual in Smith’s paintings is the influence of Southwest Indian weavings found not only in the color, rhythms and energy of Leon Polk Smith’s early work but also throughout his long career. Smith is a major 20th century artist who has been recognized by museum and gallery exhibitions in Europe and in his own country.