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Essays

The Modern Era: Post World War II DecadesLee-Smith, Hughie

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Confrontation

Artwork Facts

Hughie Lee-Smith

1915-1999
Confrontation
circa 1970
oil on canvas
33 x 36 inches
signed lower right
Gift of the National Academy of Design, H. W. Ranger Fund
EL.1.1978
Copyright Estate of Hughie Lee-Smith/ Licensed by VAGA New York, NY.
East Wing: The Depression and Beyond (Gallery 17)

Analysis

Hughie Lee-Smith's evocative painting Confrontation can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Some visitors see an image of girls confronting their own inner trials as they stand amidst a ruined landscape and a wall indicating the brokenness of the situation. The artist sometimes saw his images as the alienation that he as a black man felt in twentieth century America.