Confrontation by Hughie Lee-Smith
02/17/24 • 12 min
Putting ordinary people in odd, unsettling surroundings was the specialty of Hughie Lee-Smith. In today’s episode we look at his “Confrontation” from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
We’’ll find out how an encounter with Italian Surrealism and a forbidden childhood carnival forged a visual language he used to depict universal feelings of loneliness, separation, and alienation in post-war America.
SHOW NOTES
“A Long Look” themes are "Easy" by Ron Gelinas https://youtu.be/2QGe6skVzSs and “At the Cafe with You” by Onion All Stars https://pixabay.com/users/onion_all_stars-33331904/
Episode music: “Passing Fields” by Quantum Jazz Courtesy of Free music Archive (CC BY-SA) https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Quantum_Jazz/End_of_Line/05_-_Quantum_Jazz_-_Passing_Fields/
“Ghost Carousel” by LAURENT BUCZEK Courtesy of Pixabay https://pixabay.com/music/build-up-scenes-ghost-carousel-155303/
“Between Worlds” by Tobias Webster (CC-BY) http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/tobias_weber/56664
"Shades of Spring" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artwork information https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/confrontation-78130
Artist information Biography Hughie Lee-Smith by Leslie King-Hammond and Aiden Faust. San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2010.
Hughie Lee-Smith papers, c 1890-2007, bulk 1931-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
https://americanart.si.edu/artist/hughie-lee-smith-6317
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughie_Lee-Smith
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/04/nyregion/art-a-painter-finally-gets-his-due.html
Transcript available at https://alonglookpodcast.com/confrontation
Putting ordinary people in odd, unsettling surroundings was the specialty of Hughie Lee-Smith. In today’s episode we look at his “Confrontation” from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
We’’ll find out how an encounter with Italian Surrealism and a forbidden childhood carnival forged a visual language he used to depict universal feelings of loneliness, separation, and alienation in post-war America.
SHOW NOTES
“A Long Look” themes are "Easy" by Ron Gelinas https://youtu.be/2QGe6skVzSs and “At the Cafe with You” by Onion All Stars https://pixabay.com/users/onion_all_stars-33331904/
Episode music: “Passing Fields” by Quantum Jazz Courtesy of Free music Archive (CC BY-SA) https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Quantum_Jazz/End_of_Line/05_-_Quantum_Jazz_-_Passing_Fields/
“Ghost Carousel” by LAURENT BUCZEK Courtesy of Pixabay https://pixabay.com/music/build-up-scenes-ghost-carousel-155303/
“Between Worlds” by Tobias Webster (CC-BY) http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/tobias_weber/56664
"Shades of Spring" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artwork information https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/confrontation-78130
Artist information Biography Hughie Lee-Smith by Leslie King-Hammond and Aiden Faust. San Francisco: Pomegranate, 2010.
Hughie Lee-Smith papers, c 1890-2007, bulk 1931-1999. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
https://americanart.si.edu/artist/hughie-lee-smith-6317
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughie_Lee-Smith
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/04/nyregion/art-a-painter-finally-gets-his-due.html
Transcript available at https://alonglookpodcast.com/confrontation
Previous Episode
The Nativity by Petrus Christus
Merry Christmas! For this year’s holiday episode we're looking at this kind of unusual Nativity scene jammed packed with the detail those Northern European Renaissance artists just loved!
We’ll find out how the birth of Christ went from early spring to late December, the story of the arch, and the mystery of the missing gold platter!
SHOW NOTES
“A Long Look” opening theme is "Easy" by Ron Gelinas https://youtu.be/2QGe6skVzSs and the closing music is “Bring a Torch Jeannette Isabella” performed by John Sayles http://www.jsayles.com/familypages/holidaymusic.htm
Episode music:
“Away in a Manger” and “Angels We Have Heard on High” performed by John Sayles http://www.jsayles.com/familypages/holidaymusic.htm
“Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem” and “Teller of the Tales” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artwork information https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.47.html
“Early Netherlandish Painting” https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/early-netherlandish-painting.pdf
“Petrus Christus: Renaissance Master of Bruges” https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/Petrus_Christus_Renaissance_Master_of_Bruges
“Petrus Christus in Renaissance Bruges : An Interdisciplinary Approach” https://archive.org/details/petruschristusin0000unse/page/167/mode/1up
How Dec. 25 became Christmas The Christmas Story in Art
https://www.history.com/news/why-is-christmas-celebrated-on-december-25
Transcript available at https://alonglookpodcast.com/?p=2865
Next Episode
Man With the Cat by Cecilia Beaux
Henry Sturgis Drinker and Cecilia Beaux had a complicated history but that didn’t get in the way of Cecilia making him the subject of one of her best portraits.
In today’s episode, we’ll find out how Henry was just one example of the lengths this renowned Gilded Age artist went to pursue her dream of an art career. And how her talent, hard work--and the help of a good friend--got her started.
SHOW NOTES
“A Long Look” themes are "Easy" by Ron Gelinas https://youtu.be/2QGe6skVzSs and “At the Cafe with You” by Onion All Stars https://pixabay.com/users/onion_all_stars-33331904/
Episode music
“Preludes, Op. 28 - No. 21 'Sunday'” by Frédéric Chopin
Courtesy of the European Archive and musopen.org
https://musopen.org/music/82-preludes-op-28/
“Preludes, Op. 28 - No. 17 'Scene on the Place de Notre-Dame'” by Frédéric Chopin
Performed by Ivan Ilic. Courtesy of musopen.org
https://musopen.org/music/82-preludes-op-28/
“String Quartet no. 12 in F major 'American', Op. 96” by Antonín Dvořák.
Courtesy of the European Archive and musopen.org
https://musopen.org/music/4887-string-quartet-no-12-in-f-major-american-op-96/
Artwork information
https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/man-cat-henry-sturgis-drinker-1635
Les Dernier Jours d’Enfance
https://www.pafa.org/museum/collection/item/les-derniers-jours-d-enfance
Cecilia bio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecilia_Beaux#cite_ref-16
“Cecilia Beaux: A Modern Painter in the Gilded Age” by Alice A. Carter.
https://archive.org/details/ceciliabeauxmode0000cart
“Cecilia Beaux: American Figure Painter” by Sylvia Yount.
https://archive.org/details/ceciliabeauxamer00beau
Henry Sturgis Drinker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Sturgis_Drinker
Transcript is available at https://alonglookpodcast.com/cecilia-beaux/
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