Prints became a popular art form in the 1930s during the Great Depression in the United States. Artists like Smith exploited the expressionist power of such techniques as woodcutting and linoleum cutting, carving deep furrows into the print block to create stark contrasts of black and white. One of several African American printmakers who gathered around the Karamu House in Cleveland, Smith often depicted urban scenes of poverty and struggle. Here, a young African American man leans against a city wall, perhaps in contemplation. In calling him a "native son" of the country, Smith asserts the centrality of African Americans in the history and culture of the nation. The term would gain particular popularity two years later with the publication of Richard Wright's novel Native Son (1940).
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Title:Native Son
Artist:William E. Smith (American, 1913–1997)
Date:1938
Medium:Linocut
Edition:2/32
Dimensions:15 11/16 × 7 3/4 in. (39.9 × 19.7 cm)
Classification:Prints
Credit Line:Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 1999
Object Number:1999.529.148
Inscription: Inscribed, signed, and dated (lower margin, in graphite): "NATIVE SON" 2/32 William E. SMITH "38"
[Diane Cochrane, until 1991; sold on November 1, 1991 to Williams]; Reba and Dave Williams, New York (1991–99; their gift to MMA)
Cleveland Museum of Art. "Exhibition of Karamu House Work of Graphic Artists," February 21–March 31, 1941, no catalogue [possibly this edition].
Newark Museum, held jointly at the Equitable Gallery, New York. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," December 10, 1992–February 28, 1993, no. 75.
Long Beach Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," June 4–August 8, 1993, no. 75.
Cambridge, England. Fitzwilliam Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," October 5–December 19, 1993, no. 75.
Albany. New York State Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," January 5–March 13, 1994, no. 75.
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," April 7–June 12, 1994, no. 75.
Louisville. Speed Art Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," July 12–September 4, 1994, no. 75.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," October 9–December 4, 1994, no. 75.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," January 4–February 26, 1995, no. 75.
Charleston. Gibbes Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," March 26–May 21, 1995, no. 75.
Miami Beach. Bass Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," June 18–August 13, 1995, no. 75.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," September 10–November 5, 1995, no. 75.
Mobile, Ala. Fine Arts Museum of the South. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," December 3, 1995–January 28, 1996, no. 75.
Brooklyn Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," February 25–April 22, 1996, no. 75.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," May 17–July 14, 1996, no. 75.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," August 9–October 6, 1996, no. 75.
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," November 1, 1996–January 2, 1997, no. 75.
Atlanta. High Museum of Art. "Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–1940s by African-American Artists from the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams," January 31–March 30, 1997, no. 75.
Alain Locke. The Negro in Art: A Pictorial Record of the Negro Artist and of the Negro Theme in Art. Washington, D.C., 1940, ill. p. 124 (unknown edition), calls it "Skinny Depressed".
Exhibit by Karamu Artists. Exh. brochure, Associated American Artists Galleries. New York, 1942, unpaginated, no. 1 (unknown edition).
William E. Smith and Marjorie Witt Johnson. The Printmaker: "From Umbrella Stave to Brush and Easel": William E. Smith, the Story of a Man and His Works, 1926–1976. Cleveland, 1976, p. 21, ill. (unknown edition).
Rotraud Sackerlotzky. Cleveland's African Images, circa 1920–1960. Exh. cat., Cleveland Artists Foundation, Northeast Ohio Art Museum. Cleveland, 1990, unpaginated (unknown edition, lent by Karamu House).
Reba and Dave Williams inAlone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s–40s by African-American Artists; From the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams. Exh. cat., Newark Museum. New York, 1993, pp. 33, 55, no. 75.
Ellen Schulz in John Hunter. The Russell and Rowena Jelliffe Collection: Prints and Drawings from the Karamu Workshop 1929–1941. Exh. cat., Cleveland State University Art Gallery. Cleveland, 1994, unpaginated (not this edition), dates it 1939 and notes the title refers to Richard Wright's novel of the same name.
William E. Smith: Drawings and Linocuts, with a Checklist of the Linocuts. Exh. brochure, Susan Teller Gallery. New York, 2001, unpaginated, exhibition no. 7 (not this edition), dates it 1938–39.
Samella Lewis. African American Art and Artists. 3rd rev. ed. (1st ed., 1978; 2nd rev. ed., 1990). Berkeley, 2003, p. 255, fig. 262 (unknown edition).
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