Artwork Page for Little Joy

Details / Information for Little Joy

Little Joy

1940

William E. Smith

(American, 1913–1997)
Culture
Medium
linocut
Measurements
Platemark: 22.7 x 17.5 cm (8 15/16 x 6 7/8 in.); Sheet: 28.6 x 23.4 cm (11 1/4 x 9 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Severance and Greta Millikin Trust 2022.56
Catalogue raisonné
Teller 16; Salsbury, Benay, and Kruse 105
Copyright
© William E. Smith
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

William E. Smith’s prints were included in a 1942 exhibition of Karamu House artists organized at New York’s Associated American Artists Galleries and sponsored by a committee including cultural figures such as Langston Hughes, Alain Locke, and Carl Van Vechten. The show traveled to Philadelphia’s Temple University and brought national attention to the Karamu House printmaking workshop.

Description

This linocut was created by William E. Smith while he was involved in the printmaking workshop at Karamu House, a community art center founded in 1915 that is still active in Cleveland today. Created by carving into a smooth linoleum block, linocut is an accessible technique that was favored at Karamu for its accessibility and democracy. Smith used it to evocatively depict the lives of Black Clevelanders—here, a figure who meets the viewer’s gaze confidently and directly.

Little Joy

1940

William E. Smith

(American, 1913–1997)

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