Albert Alexander Smith (September 17, 1896 – April 3, 1940) was an American artist, illustrator, and jazz musician. According to Theresa Leininger-Miller he was an "internationally renowned artist" throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Smith was born on September 17, 1896, in New York City and grew up in the city's

San Juan Hill San Juan Hill is a series of hills to the east of Santiago, Cuba, running north to south. The area is known as the San Juan Heights or in Spanish ''Alturas de San Juan'' before Spanish–American War of 1898, and are now part of Lomas de San Jua ...

community. An only child, he was born to Elizabeth A. Smith, a homemaker, and Albert Renford Smith, a chauffeur for

Ralph Pulitzer Ralph Pulitzer (June 11, 1879 – June 14, 1939) was an American heir, newspaper publisher and author. He served as the president of the Press Publishing Co., which published the ''New York World'' and the ''Evening World''. Early life Ralph Puli ...

. Both of his parents were immigrants from

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. In 1911, he graduated from Public School No. 70. He then went on to study at

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, attending the school for two years. In 1913, he switched schools after receiving a Wolfe scholarship to attend the

Ethical Culture School Ethical Culture Fieldston School (ECFS), also referred to as Fieldston, is a private independent school in New York City. The school is a member of the Ivy Preparatory School League. The school serves approximately 1,700 students with 480 facul ...

. There, he studied art under Irene Weir. In 1915, Smith began attending the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

, becoming the school's first African-American student. At the Academy, he won multiple awards, including the Snydum medal in 1917, the Chaloner prize in 1919, and the Tanner Gold medal in 1919. In 1917, during World War I, Smith enlisted in the army's 807 Pioneer Band. He served for two and half months overseas with the

American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (A. E. F.) was a formation of the United States Army on the Western Front of World War I. The A. E. F. was established on July 5, 1917, in France under the command of General John J. Pershing. It fought alon ...

, and was honorably discharged in July 1919. After his discharge, he returned to his studies at the National Academy of Design. In June 1920, Smith moved to Paris and began living abroad. He played as a musician with different bands, mostly at night, and created various art pieces of tourist locations and scenes. He traveled to Italy in 1922, where he studied the artworks of Italian

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and continued to perform as a musician. Around that time, he made art focused on Black people and their achievements, as well as works about United States racial discrimination. In 1923, he began to study printmaking at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

, Belgium. He received a Harmon Award ( List of winners of the William E. Harmon Foundation Award for Distinguished Achievement Among Negroes). Smith died on April 3, 1940, in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, at the age of 44. His works are held at various museums and collections, including at the National Portrait Gallery, the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

, and the Melvin Holmes Collection of African American Art.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Albert Alexander 20th-century American artists African-American illustrators American jazz musicians 1896 births 1940 deaths African-American jazz musicians 20th-century American musicians Artists from Manhattan Musicians from New York City American people of Bermudian descent Ethical Culture Fieldston School alumni DeWitt Clinton High School alumni National Academy of Design alumni Artists from Paris Musicians from Paris American expatriates in Italy American expatriates in France United States Army personnel of World War I American expatriates in Belgium Jazz musicians from New York (state) African Americans in World War I 20th-century African-American musicians African-American United States Army personnel