Vernon B. Smith (1894 - 1969)

Floral Abstraction (Untitled), c. 1950s, carved and painted wood, signed lower left, 42 x 18 inches

$4,500

“Try to name the ‘famous’ woodcarvers of the world and you probably will not use all the fingers on one hand….take the opportunity to see the accomplishments of Vernon Smith, who pushed the bounds of relief carving probably farther than any 20th century artist.” – Joyce Johnson, sculptor and historian

Vernon B. Smith was painter and woodcarver. Born in Cortland New York, Smith initially trained at the

New York School of Fine & Applied Arts where he studied painting with Jonas Lie, Howard Giles and Sloan Bredin. He also learned metalwork, textile design, and interior decoration under the school's founder Frank Parsons. After teaching at the Manhattan School of Art, Smith joined the US Army in April 1918 and arrived at the Western Front in July, where his responsibilities included camouflaging artillery. After the war, Smith stayed in France, living in Paris and Poitiers, where he enrolled at the Sorbonne Institute of Art. In January 1920, Smith returned to New York City and later Boston where designed stage sets for the Peabody Playhouse.

Smith moved to Cape Cod and studied with Charles Hawthorne, the founder of the Provincetown School of Art. During his early years on Cape Cod, Smith operated an antique shop and designed and created decorative arts, including batik fabric, and the interior design program for the Church of the Holy Spirit. He eventually settled in Orleans and worked as a teacher in the Orleans public school system. He was the regional supervisor for the Federal Art Project on Cape Cod during the mid-1930s and in the summer of 1937, Smith was one of 12 Federal Art Project artists selected for an artistic expedition to Alaska. He had a solo exhibition at Boston's Walker Gallery in 1934 and the Institute of Modern Art in 1939. During World War II, Smith worked a factory job in Connecticut, volunteered for shore patrol, and performed civilian service at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, charting ocean currents and lettering maps.

After World War II, he was represented by New York's Kraushaar Galleries, where he had a solo exhibition in 1946 and participated in group shows throughout the 1950s. Smith also exhibited in the 1940s at the Virginia Museum of fine Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, as well as many Cape Cod institutions throughout his career. He was a founder and President of the Cape Cod Art Association and continued to teach art privately and in the public schools. After his wife became ill with multiple sclerosis in 1948, Smith turned his attention to woodcarving which became his principal medium throughout the rest of his life. Floral Abstraction (Untitled) is an excellent example of Smith's polychromed wood carving, drawing on images from the natural world.

Smith's works are in the collections of the Museum of Fine Art, Boston, Museum of Modern Art, New York, New Britain Museum, Dartmouth College Museum, Anchorage Museum, Cape Museum of Fine Arts and the Provincetown Art Association, in addition to other places. He is listed in Who Was Who in American Art and all other standard references.