The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 7, 2025

Vertically oriented black-inked print with white lines outlining the scene of a nude woman and baby, the woman kneeling facing our left and looking up through a window in the upper left corner. Hair falls in waves down her back. She wraps her arm around the baby, who stands next to her looking back and to our right. Dashes of white lines streak through the window and over them, white highlights contouring their faces.

Mother and Baby

c. 1937

William E. Smith

(American, 1913–1997)
America, Ohio, Cleveland
linocut
Image: 20.5 x 17.2 cm (8 1/16 x 6 3/4 in.); Sheet: 27.1 x 25.5 cm (10 11/16 x 10 1/16 in.)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1937.83
© William E. Smith
Catalogue raisonné: Teller 3; Salsbury, Benay, and Kruse 82
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

William E. Smith frequently depicted the tender bond between parent and child.

Description

This print by William E. Smith was the first by any Black American artist to enter the CMA’s collection. It was purchased from the museum’s May Show, an annual exhibition highlighting regional contemporary art. Karamu Artists Inc. used this juried display to establish a reputation locally that they were then able to leverage into further opportunities. The praise that their prints received was widely noted at a time when Black artists were otherwise unrepresented in museums; as a critic for Cleveland’s historically Black newspaper, the Call and Post, noted, “A feeling of deep racial pride was mine as I noticed the names of [members of Karamu Artists Inc. in the galleries].”
  • William E. Smith Entry Card to 1937 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Salsbury, Britany. "Karamu Artists Inc. and Printmaking in the WPA Era." In Karamu Artists Inc.: Printmaking, Race, and Community, Britany Salsbury and Erin Benay, 16-55. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2025. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 24-26, no. 5
  • Karamu Artists Inc.: Printmaking, Race, and Community. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 23-August 17, 2025).
    May Show Prints: Purchases for 1936-1938. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9-December 4, 1938).
    The May Show: 19th Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 5-June 19, 1937).
  • {{cite web|title=Mother and Baby|url=false|author=William E. Smith|year=c. 1937|access-date=07 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1937.83