The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Rooftop

Rooftop

1957
(American, 1915–1999)
Unframed: 61 x 63.5 cm (24 x 25 in.)
© Estate of Hughie Lee-Smith / Licensed by VAGA at ARS, NY

Did You Know?

Hughie Lee-Smith ran track with fellow student Jesse Owens at East Technical High School in Cleveland.

Description

Trained in Cleveland before launching his mature career in Detroit and New York, Lee-Smith frequently painted isolated—and often solitary—figures amid desolate cityscapes and landscapes. They have pronounced overtones of introspection, which the artist attributed, in part, to his experiences navigating the forces and effects of racism: "In my case, aloneness, I think, has stemmed from the fact that I’m Black. Unconsciously it has a lot to do with alienation."
  • Flea Market (Florida); Private Collector consigning to Swann Galleries, New York [public auction, February 17, 2009]
  • King-Hammond, Leslie. Hughie Lee-Smith. San Francisco, CA: Pomegranate, 2010. Mentioned: p. 42-46; Reproduced: p. 45, back cover
    King-Hammond, Leslie. Hughie Lee-Smith. San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2010. Reproduced: p. 45, pl. 25; Mentioned: p. 42
    Shearer, Christine Fowler and Steven Litt. Joseph O'Sickey: Unifying Art, Life and Love. Canton, Ohio: Canton Museum of Art, 2013. Reproduced: p. 34
    Cole, Mark, Amy Sparks, and Rebecca Michaels. African American Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 12-13
    Freeman, Nigel. A Modern Migration: African-American Art Since the WPA, from the Lee and Barbara Maimon Collection. Exton, PA: Brilliant Graphics, 2014. Reproduced: p. 39
    Thomas, Adam M. From the Rooftops: John Sloan and the Art of a New Urban Space. University Park, PA; Palmer Museum of Art, 2019. Mentioned: P. 61, 72
    "Past Masters." In Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Cleveland Arts Prize 2020-2021, edited by Alenka Banco, 19-22. Cleveland: Cleveland Arts Prize, 2020. Reproduced: p. 21
    Als, Hilton, Lauren Haynes, Leslie King-Hammond, Steve Locke, Kellie Jones, LeRonn P. Brooks, and Reggie Burrows Hodges. Hughie Lee-Smith. New York: Karma Books, 2023. Reproduced: p. 153
  • From the Rooftops: John Sloan and the Art of a New Urban Space. Palmer Museum of Art, University Park, PA (organizer) (February 5-May 12, 2019); The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY (June 16-September 15, 2019).
  • {{cite web|title=Rooftop|url=false|author=Hughie Lee-Smith|year=1957|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2009.7