The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Vertically oriented print in black ink of an adult holding a baby, both with dark skin tones. The adult, sitting, faces us loosely holding the baby under the arms with both hands and looking down. The baby looks toward their left hand, held in the adult's hand. Both are detailed with white lines emerging from a black background, shadows cast over their right side. Wavy lines with cross-hatching sway up behind the adult's left elbow.

My Son! My Son!

1941

William E. Smith

(American, 1913–1997)
America, Ohio, Cleveland
linocut
Image: 19.7 x 13.7 cm (7 3/4 x 5 3/8 in.); Sheet: 28.5 x 22.7 cm (11 1/4 x 8 15/16 in.)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1941.122
© William E. Smith
Catalogue raisonné: Teller 8; Salsbury, Benay, and Kruse 97
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 one of 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 1941 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Hoffman, Jay, Dee Driscole, and Mary Clare Zahler. A Study in Regional Taste: The May Show, 1919-1975. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1977. Reproduced: P. 59, no. 46; Mentioned: P. 79, no. 46
    Robinson, William H., et. al. Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946: Community and Diversity in Early Modern America. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: p. 148, fig. 170; Mentioned: p. 146, p. 250, no. 181
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 36 no. 06, Summer 1996 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6 archive.org
    Benay, Erin. "Peripheral Prints: Karamu House and the Rise of African American Art in the Midwest." Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art 10, no. 1 (Spring 2024). Mentioned and reproduced: fig. 5 journalpanorama.org
    Salsbury, Britany, and Erin E. Benay. Karamu Artists Inc.: Printmaking, Race, and Community. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2025. Reproduced: p. 46, no. 16
    King, Amanda D. "Nobody Knows the Glory: Karamu Artists Inc. and Cleveland's Black Arts Resurgence." CAN Journal (Spring 2025): 7-9. Reproduced: cover
    Connors, Thomas. "Black and White." The Magazine Antiques 192, n. 2 (March/April 2025): 56-58. Reproduced: p. 58
  • Karamu Artists Inc.: Printmaking, Race, and Community. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 23-August 17, 2025).
    Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 19-July 21, 1996).
    Impressions / Expressions: Black American Graphics. Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY (organizer) (October 7, 1979-January 6, 1980); Howard University, Washington, D.C., DC (February 10-March 28, 1980).
    A Study in Regional Taste: May Show 1919 - 1975. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 13-August 21, 1977).
    The May Show: 23rd Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 30-June 8, 1941).
  • {{cite web|title=My Son! My Son!|url=false|author=William E. Smith|year=1941|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1941.122