1930-2004
Works in the Collection
Biography
Vincent Smith was a Brooklyn, New York native born in 1930. Smith dropped out of school at age 15 and spent a summer working on the railroad and living out of a boxcar. Then, after a brief stint in the Army, Smith returned to Brooklyn and soon began his career in art. He studied at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Art Students League, Skowhegan School of Painting, and later, at age 50, continued his education at New York State University in Saratoga. Smith was a figure in the Black Arts movement of the 60s and 70s and had more than 25 one-man shows and 30 group exhibitions. He illustrated for greeting cards and for books on jazz and the blues written by his friend, poet Amiri Baraka. Three of his works are held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Two murals he made as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Art En Route program can be found at the West 116th Street subway station in Manhattan. The artist died in 2004.