Leon Polk Smith papers, 1938-1997

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A Finding Aid to the Leon Polk Smith Papers, 1938-1997, in the Archives of American Art, by Judy Ng

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Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Leon Polk Smith Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Table of Contents:

• Biographical Information
• Overview of the Collection
• How to Use the Collection
• Detailed Description and Container Inventory

Biographical Information

Leon Polk Smith (1906-1996) worked primarily in New York City as a painter, educator, and lecturer. He is considered one of the founders of the hard edge style of minimalist abstract art.

Smith was born in Chickasha, Indian Territory one year before its formal incorporation into the Oklahoma Territory. Both of his parents were of Cherokee ancestry and he was raised in a small farming community that included Cherokee and Choctaw Indians. After receiving his teaching degree in 1934, Smith worked as an educator in rural Oklahoma communities and, at the same time, took the opportunity to introduce arts programs to local schools. In 1936, he enrolled in Columbia University's Teachers College to pursue a graduate degree in arts education and began painting full time. That summer, he visited the Albert E. Gallatin Gallery of Living Art at New York University, where he was first introduced to the work of the European modernists Constantin Brancusi, Jean Arp, and most importantly, Piet Mondrian.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Smith accepted university teaching positions at Rollins College in Florida, and New York University and Mills College of Education in New York. During this time, Smith moved beyond his early explorations of neo-plasticism and began to paint in a more hard edge style, typified by geometric lines, curving shapes of color, and the use of tondo (disk shaped) canvases. In 1958, Betty Parson's Section Eleven Gallery showcased his new work in two one-man exhibitions, which introduced him to a wider audience of museum curators and art collectors. In the 1960s, Smith's work was included in two of his most important group exhibitions, The Responsive Eye at the Museum of Modern Art (1965) and Systemic Painting at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1966). In 1995, the Brooklyn Museum curated Leon Polk Smith: American Painter, a retrospective exhibition of Smith's career.

Smith produced works exploring shapes and lines, minimalist use of color, and modularity well into the 1990s and exhibited at a number of affiliated galleries, including the Stable Gallery, Galerie Chalette, Galerie Denise Rene, Washburn Gallery, and ACA Galleries. Smith died in 1996 in his home in Manhattan, at the age of 91.

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Overview of the Collection

Scope and Contents

The papers of New York abstract painter Leon Polk Smith measure 7.2 linear feet and date from 1938 to 1997. The papers consist of biographical material, business and personal correspondence, interview transcripts and an interview video recording, writings, financial records for the corporate entity Leon Polk Smith, Inc., printed material, photographic material, and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings.

Biographical material includes official affidavits, certificates, passports, expense receipts, and a travel expense notebook. A curriculum vitae, family history, and medical records are also included in the series.

Correspondence, both business and personal, comprises the bulk of the collection. This includes correspondence between Smith and his life companion, Robert Jamieson; art critics Arthur C. Danto, Claudine Humblet, and David Galloway; and artists Gego (Gertrude Goldschmidt) and Ray Johnson. Business correspondence relates to Smith's various gallery and museum exhibitions, loans, and sales. There is extensive correspondence between Smith and the Brooklyn Museum, Butler Institute of American Art, Di Laurenti Gallery, Edition and Galerie Hoffmann, Galerie Denise Rene, Meyers/Bloom Gallery, Washburn Gallery, and the Wilhelm-Hack Museum. The business subseries also includes correspondence between Smith and his alma mater, East Central University, formerly known as Oklahoma State University.

Interviews consist of six typewritten transcripts of interviews conducted with Smith over the course of his professional career from 1950 to 1993, a 1995 video interview of museum director Robert T. Buck discussing the Brooklyn Museum's exhibition of Leon Polk Smith for the television program National Arts, and a 1965 interview transcript with gallery owner Lucile Horsley.

Writings include sixteen published and unpublished scholarly essays on Smith and his work. The series also includes notes and a brief artist's statement by Smith regarding the pros and cons of modern art galleries.

Financial records are 1978-1989 federal income tax filings and routine tax preparation and payment receipts for the corporate entity Leon Polk Smith, Inc. Smith's personal filing records from 1987-1989 are also included in this series.

Printed material consists of two books, including the Brooklyn Museum's monograph Leon Polk Smith: American Painter, newspaper clippings reviewing Smith's work, and exhibition announcements and catalogs of Smith's museum and gallery shows from 1941 to 1997.

A scrapbook contains newspaper clippings documenting Smith's years as an educator and artist in Oklahoma in the 1930s and 1940s.

Photographs are of Smith and his acquaintances circa 1930-1960, and a representative selection of photographs and color slides of Smith's artwork from 1939 to 1960.

Arrangement and Series Description

The collection is arranged as 8 series:

• Series 1: Biographical Material, 1938-1994 (Box 1, OV 10; 11 folders)
• Series 2: Correspondence, 1939-1997 (Boxes 1-5, 9, OV 10; 5 linear feet)
• Series 3: Interviews, 1950-1995 (Boxes 5-6; 8 folders)
• Series 4: Writings, 1963-1996 (Box 6; 13 folders)
• Series 5: Financial Records, 1979-1990 (Box 6; 15 folders)
• Series 6: Printed Material, 1941-1997 (Boxes 6-7, 9; .5 linear feet)
• Series 7: Scrapbook, 1930-1940 (Box 8; 1 folder)
• Series 8: Photographic Material, 1930-1990 (Box 8; 8 folders)

Subjects and Names

Provenance

The papers of Leon Polk Smith were donated by the artist's partner, Robert Jamieson, in 1998 and 2002.

How the Collection was Processed

The collection was processed, arranged, and described by Judy Ng and digitized in August 2011 with funding provided by the Leon Polk Smith Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

How to Use the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

Ownership & Literary Rights

The Leon Polk Smith papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.

Available Formats

The bulk of the collection was digitized in 2011 and is available via the Archives of American Art's website. Blank pages, blank versos of photographs, photographs of artwork, duplicates, and medical and routine financial documents have not been scanned. In most cases, only the cover, title page, and individual relevant pages have been scanned from published materials.

The video recording in this collection was digitized for research access in 2011 and is available at the Archives of American Art offices. Researchers may view the original cassette for the archival notations on it, but the original cassette is not available for playback due to fragility.

How to Cite this Collection

Leon Polk Smith papers, 1938-1997. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

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Detailed Description and Container Inventory

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1938-1994 (Box 1, OV 10; 11 folders)

Biographical material includes official affidavits, certificates, passports, expense receipts, and a travel expense notebook. A curriculum vitae, family history, and medical records are also included in the series.

This series has been scanned in its entirety.

Series 2: Correspondence 1939-1996 (Boxes 1-5, 9, OV 10; 5 linear feet)

Correspondence is predominantly in the form of business letters and personal letters received from family and friends. This includes correspondence between Smith and his life companion, Robert Jamieson; art critics Arthur C. Danto, Claudine Humblet, and David Galloway; and artists Gego (Gertrude Goldschmidt) and Ray Johnson.

The bulk of the business correspondence relates to Smith's various gallery and museum exhibitions, loans, and sales. Outgoing correspondence, photographs, slides, and instructions on the installation of exhibitions have been chronologically interfiled within the correspondents' files. There is extensive correspondence between Smith and the Brooklyn Museum, Butler Institute of American Art, Di Laurenti Gallery, Edition and Galerie Hoffmann, Galerie Denise Rene, Meyers/Bloom Gallery, Washburn Gallery, and the Wilhelm-Hack Museum. The business subseries also includes correspondence between Smith and his alma mater, East Central University, formerly known as Oklahoma State University.

The bulk of this series has been scanned. Slides of artwork filed with Meyers/Bloom Gallery have not been scanned. The series is arranged as 2 subseries:

• Subseries 2.1: Business, 1943-1996
• Subseries 2.2: Personal, 1939-1997

Subseries 2.1: Business

Subseries 2.2: Personal

Series 3: Interviews, 1950-1995 (Boxes 5-6; 8 folders)

Interviews consist of six typewritten transcripts of interviews conducted with Smith from 1950 to 1993 by Brooke Kamin Rapaport, D'Arcy Hayman, and William Jeffett, among others, over the course of Smith's professional career. The series also includes a 1995 video interview of museum director Robert T. Buck discussing the Brooklyn Museum's exhibition of Leon Polk Smith for the television program National Arts, and a 1965 interview transcript with gallery owner Lucile Horsley.

This series has been scanned in its entirety. The video interview recording has been digitized for research access and is available at the Archives of American Art offices.

Series 4: Writings, 1963-1996 (Box 6; 13 folders)

Writings include sixteen published and unpublished scholarly essays on Smith by Lawrence Alloway, Ted Castle, Arthur C. Danto, Carter Ratcliff, and Joseph R. Wolin, among others. The series also includes notes and a brief artist's statement by Smith regarding the pros and cons of modern art galleries.

This series has been scanned in its entirety.

Series 5: Financial Records, 1979-1990 (Box 6; 15 folders)

Financial records is comprised of the 1978-1989 federal income tax filings and routine tax preparation and payment receipts for the corporate entity Leon Polk Smith, Inc. Smith's personal filing records from 1987-1989 are also included in this series.

This series has not been scanned.

Series 6: Printed Material, 1941-1997 (Boxes 6-7, 9; .5 linear feet)

Printed material consists of two books, including the Brooklyn Museum's monograph Leon Polk Smith: American Painter, newspaper clippings reviewing Smith's work, and exhibition announcements and catalogs of Smith's museum and gallery shows from 1941 to 1997.

The bulk of this series has been scanned. In most cases, only the cover, title page, and individual relevant pages have been scanned from published materials.

Series 7: Scrapbook, 1930-1940 (Box 8; 1 folder)

The scrapbook consists of newspaper clippings documenting Smith's years as an educator and artist in Oklahoma in the 1930s and 1940s.

This series has been scanned in its entirety.

Series 8: Photographic Material, 1930-1990 (Box 8; 8 folders)

Photographic material includes black and white photographs of Smith and his acquaintances circa 1930-1960, and a representative selection of black and white photographs and color slides of Smith's artwork from 1939 to 1960.

Original photographs have been scanned. Photographs and slides of artwork have not been scanned.