BIOGRAPHY:
PAUL K. SMITH
Paul
Kauver Smith was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri on February
27, 1893. Sometimes known in Denver as the “Hermit of Stuart
Street”, Smith was a solitary man and a singular artist.
He was part of the American and International movements toward
abstraction but did not follow abstraction’s
established schools. Instead he created a uniquely personal style
of painting with an emphasis on color and shape and the almost
magical transformation of ordinary life. Most creative people
are talented in several areas and Smith was no exception. In addition
to painting he was also a carpenter and cabinet maker.
Smith began his professional training studying commercial art
and design at the St. Louis School of Fine Art from 1915 to 1916.
World War I interrupted his studies but after the war he returned
to the School of Fine Art. Smith also studied art at Washington
University in St. Louis. He headed to Denver in 1921 where he
studied at the Denver Art Academy, and with Fred Carpenter and
John E. Thompson, master teacher of the Denver avante garde. Here
in Denver he found considerable success as a full time painter.
Smith avidly pursued a variety of subjects. He painted Colorado
landscape, mining towns and decaying buildings, relics of the
past, still life, and Mexican genre subjects.
Smith’s
modernist emphasis in design stylized his work into a “mosaic
of abstract pattern” without losing the recognizable representational
elements. Denver Post writer Anne Arneill, visiting his studio
in 1958, was struck by the eclectic, playful and bohemian lifestyle
of the artist: “Over Smith’s
easel hang several doll’s
arms, a little bluebird, some old faucet handles and a sign saying
‘masterpiece’.”
Smith was a member of the Colorado and the Denver Art Guilds,
and the American Artists Professional League. He also exhibited
with a Denver group called The Colorado Fifteen. “The Fifteen”
came into existence in 1948 as a supportive association of professional
artists dedicated to the avante-garde. The group was well known
and considered to be an important contribution to Denver's cultural
landscape. Membership, which changed over the years, was by invitation
only and the group often staged their own exhibitions.
Smith also had the distinction of having two solo shows at the
Denver Art Museum. The museum bestowed a purchase award and added
his work to their Anne Evans collection, as well as reproducing
his painting, Houses at Victor, for their Western Heritage exhibition
catalog in 1959. In fact, Smith held an unofficial record at DAM
for being accepted into shows by various juries more than twenty
times.
Other
exhibition venues include The Colorado Springs Fine Art Center;
the San Francisco Palace of the Legion of Honor, the Gilpin County
Art Association; Muldane Art Center, Topeka, Kansas; the State
Museum of Sante Fe, the New York World's Fair of 1939, The Joslyn
Art Museum; The Community Art Gallery of Denver; Loretto Heights
College, Bauers Cherry Creek Center, and Sak's Gallery.
References:
Dawdy, D.O. Artists of
the American West. 3 vols. Chicago: Swallow, 1974
Denver Art Museum. “Western Heritage” exhibition. Spring
Quarterly. 1959.
—“The 12th Annual Metropolitan.” December-January
1960-1962
— “The 15th Annual Metropolitan.” December 1963.
—American Art Collection. Catalog. 1972 (The Denver Public
Library.)
Denver Post. “Guild Announces Art Show Winners.”
May 10, 1959:27A
Denver
Post Roundup. Arneill, A. “Paul K. Smith Lives For his
Art Alone”. February 16, 1958:16
—Brigaham,
D. “Mountains that look like Mountains...” August 27,
1961
—Brigaham, D. “Artist - Craftsman Open First Sales...”
August 4, 1963:12
—Brigaham, D. “New Colorado Gallery...” August
11, 1963:14
Denver Post Roundup. Brigaham, D. “Colorado 15 to
present Varied Annual Show.” November 3, 1963:11
—Brigaham, D. “New Names Feature...” December 15,
1963:10
Falk, P.H. Who was Who in American Art. Madison: Sound
View, 1985
Havlice, P. P. Index to Artistic Biography. New Jersey:
Scarecrow, 1973
Mallett, D.T. Supplement to Mallett's Index of Artists.
NY: P.Smith, 1948
McGlauflin, A.C. Who’s
Who in American Art. Washington: Amer. Federation of Arts,
1935, continuing to NY: Cattell Press, 1976
McNeil, B. Artists Master Index. Detroit: Gale Research
Tower, 1986
