Hughie Lee-Smith and the Politics of Introspection
Lunchtime Lecture
- Lecture
Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center

Rooftop, 1957. Hughie Lee-Smith (American, 1915–1999). Oil on Masonite; 61 x 63.5 cm. Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 2009.7. © Estate of Hughie Lee-Smith / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
About The Event
Come to the CMA for a quick bite of art history. Every first Tuesday of each month, join curators, conservators, scholars, and other museum staff for 30–minute talks on objects currently on display in the museum galleries.
Understandings of visual art in the 20th century have often positioned the meanings of artworks that evoke associations with contemplation and interiority as separate from, and even at odds with, politics, identity, and oppression. Dr. Hart discusses how Hughie Lee-Smith’s works, such as the CMA’s Rooftop (1957), deal with all those topics in complex, nuanced ways and how Lee-Smith advanced a long history of linking the interior and social lives of artists’ subjects.
All education programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Education. Principal support is provided by Dieter and Susan M. Kaesgen. Major annual support is provided by Brenda and Marshall Brown, David and Robin Gunning, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, Gail C. and Elliott L. Schlang, Shurtape Technologies, and the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation. Generous annual support is provided by an anonymous donor, Gini and Randy Barbato, the M. E. and F. J. Callahan Foundation, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Char and Chuck Fowler, the Giant Eagle Foundation, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Logsdon Family Fund for Education, Sarah Nash, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, the Pickering Foundation, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, the Sally and Larry Sears Fund for Education Endowment, Roy Smith, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Trilling Family Foundation, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art.