Vincent Smith “Five Brooklyn Paintings from the 1970s”

Alexandre Gallery

[Image: Vincent Smith "The Soul Brothers" (c. 1970) oil on canvas, 31 ¼ x 24 ¾ in.]

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This focus show includes five paintings that depict the life in tenements and streets during the tumultuous period of the early 1970s in American cities and in Vincent Smith’s (American, 1929 – 2003) native Brooklyn.

Smith pushed for an art that served a lasting social purpose. Primarily serving as a visual document of the racial upheaval, violence and poverty that were taking place around him in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, his work is known for its expressive, abstract figures, and highly emotive dark, patterned backgrounds. As an artist, teacher and informed student of art history, Smith’s work is a reflection of his desire to share his experience within the urban black world of his time.

In all his work, Smith takes us along a journey; his narrative segues smoothly between the African-American and African experience. Using iconography interpreted as both personal and universal, his observations are poignant and unflinching.

-Nancy E. Green, Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University