id: 120267 accession number: 1941.122 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1941.122 updated: 2025-05-15 11:08:23.094000 My Son! My Son!, 1941. William E. Smith (American, 1913–1997). Linocut; image: 19.7 x 13.7 cm (7 3/4 x 5 3/8 in.); sheet: 28.5 x 22.7 cm (11 1/4 x 8 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland, 1941.122. © William E. Smith title: My Son! My Son! title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1941 creation date earliest: 1941 creation date latest: 1941 current location: 101A Prints & Drawings creditline: Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland copyright: © William E. Smith --- culture: America, Ohio, Cleveland technique: linocut department: Prints collection: PR - Linocut type: Print find spot: catalogue raisonne: Teller 8; Salsbury, Benay, and Kruse 97 --- CREATORS * William E. Smith (American, 1913–1997) - artist A highly skilled printmaker, William Elijah Smith specialized in genre scenes of working-class African-American life in Cleveland. Born in Chattanooga, Smith moved to Cleveland at the age of 13 and became involved with Karamu House, learning print making and stage design. He studied art at the Huntington Polytechnic Institute, 1933–34. During this time he began teaching at Karamu House and continued to do so until 1940. In 1941 he won the art competition for presenting one of his prints to the Library of Congress for its permanent collection. Smith exhibited at the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts in Hartford (1935), in the annual May Shows at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1936– 49), at the Associated American Artists Galleries of New York (1942), and at Atlanta University (1942). During World War II, he served as a photographer in the army’s educational department. After the war, he returned to Cleveland and established a commercial silkscreening studio. In 1946 the Lyman Brothers’ Gallery in Indianapolis mounted his first solo exhibition. From 1946 to 1948 he studied painting and printmaking at the Cleveland School of Art and the Cooper School of Art. In the late 1940s Smith moved to Los Angeles, where he associated with Curtis Tann, a former colleague from Karamu House. With Tann, Smith cofounded the Eleven Associated Artists Gallery, the first Los Angeles gallery devoted specifically to African art. In 1952 Smith was hired to work as a blueprint draftsman at Lockheed Aircraft, beginning a long association with the corporation. In 1960 he cofounded Art West Associated, an African-American artists’ advocacy organization in Los Angeles. In 1970 he published illustrations of subjects from African-American history for Cleveland’s New Day Press. Smith’ s works were displayed ins numerous group exhibitions in the Los Angeles area (1960s–80s).
Transformations in Cleveland Art. (CMA, 1996), p. 238 --- measurements: Image: 19.7 x 13.7 cm (7 3/4 x 5 3/8 in.); Sheet: 28.5 x 22.7 cm (11 1/4 x 8 15/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: 25 support materials: inscriptions: inscription: inscribed, lower left margin, in graphite: "My Son My Son"; lower right margin, in graphite: William E Smith 1941 translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The May Show: 23rd Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen opening date: 1941-04-30T04:00:00 The May Show: 23rd Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 30-June 8, 1941). title: A Study in Regional Taste: May Show 1919 - 1975 opening date: 1977-07-13T04:00:00 A Study in Regional Taste: May Show 1919 - 1975. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 13-August 21, 1977). title: Impressions / Expressions: Black American Graphics opening date: 1979-10-07T04:00:00 Impressions / Expressions: Black American Graphics. Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY (organizer) (October 7, 1979-January 6, 1980); Howard University, Washington, D.C., DC (February 10-March 28, 1980). title: Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946 opening date: 1996-05-19T04:00:00 Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 19-July 21, 1996). title: Karamu Artists Inc.: Printmaking, Race, and Community opening date: 2025-03-23T04:00:00 Karamu Artists Inc.: Printmaking, Race, and Community. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 23-August 17, 2025). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS William E. Smith Entry Card to 1941 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. page number: url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMS06070/ Hoffman, Jay, Dee Driscole, and Mary Clare Zahler. A Study in Regional Taste: The May Show, 1919-1975. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1977. page number: Reproduced: P. 59, no. 46; Mentioned: P. 79, no. 46 url: Robinson, William H., et. al. Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946: Community and Diversity in Early Modern America. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: p. 148, fig. 170; Mentioned: p. 146, p. 250, no. 181 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 36 no. 06, Summer 1996 page number: Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMM1996-06/page/6 Benay, Erin. "Peripheral Prints: Karamu House and the Rise of African American Art in the Midwest." Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art 10, no. 1 (Spring 2024). page number: Mentioned and reproduced: fig. 5 url: https://journalpanorama.org/article/peripheral-prints/ King, Amanda D. "Nobody Knows the Glory: Karamu Artists Inc. and Cleveland's Black Arts Resurgence." CAN Journal (Spring 2025): 7-9. page number: Reproduced: cover url: Connors, Thomas. "Black and White." The Magazine Antiques 192, n. 2 (March/April 2025): 56-58. page number: Reproduced: p. 58 url: --- IMAGES