Stories Untold: Howard Smith–Rediscovering A Lost Black Modernist

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Where	Annenberg Theater at Main Museum
When	February 17, 11:00am - 12:00pm

Where

Annenberg Theater
at Main Museum

When

February 17, 11:00am - 12:00pm

Where	Annenberg Theater at Main Museum
When	February 17, 11:00am - 12:00pm

Where

Annenberg Theater
at Main Museum

When

February 17, 11:00am - 12:00pm

Price: Free

Join us for a Modernism Week lecture exploring the fascinating life and work of Howard Smith, a pioneering black artist who rose to prominence in Finland and bridged Nordic and American design. Independent curator Steven Wolf will preview a new book published by Palm Springs Art Museum and Smith’s first-ever United States retrospective, The Art and Design of Howard Smith, opening at the museum in May.

Howard Smith (1928–2021) was a black artist from New Jersey who emigrated to Finland and rose to prominence for his artwork, textiles, and ceramics, which were produced by some of Scandinavia’s biggest design firms during the heyday of post-war Modernism. Smith spent eight years in Southern California during the 70s and the 80s, working through issues of blackness and representation in the waning years of the Black Arts Movement. However, despite solo exhibitions at UCLA, Scripps College, and the Museum of African American Art, he remained an outsider in Los Angeles, a Finnish expatriate living on the margins.

Smith’s story is of a singular artist contending with the grand historical forces of his time: racism, Modernism, cold-war ideology, and the African diaspora. The presentation will be followed by a book signing.

Presented in partnership with Modernism Week

Modernism Week’s signature festival will run February 13-23, 2025, in Palm Springs, celebrating midcentury modern architecture, art, interior and landscape design, and vintage culture.

Underwriting for Stories Untold and complimentary admission generously provided by Room & Board.

Howard with Militarist in his home in Fredrikinkatu in 1967. Howard Smith archive

Howard Smith

Artwork by Howard Smith
Texts by Allison Blakely, Erna Aaltonen,
Ervin Latimer, Ken Erwin, Steven Wolf, and Tuomas Laulainen
Co-published with Palm Springs Art Museum

Blending art and design in a multitude of mediums and integrating references to Black cultural history with the modern tradition of abstraction, Howard Smith is a crucial addition to the story of Western art.

ADAM LERNER | Director, Palm Springs Art Museum

This volume is the first significant monograph dedicated to the multifaceted practice of Howard Smith, a Black artist, designer, and collector born in the United States who spent most of his creative life in Finland, where he is more well known.

Howard Smith is a bilingual publication with essays by both American and Finnish scholars appearing in both English and Finnish. The book contains conversations with Ken Erwin, Smith’s close friend, and Erna Aaltonen, his widow, providing a more intimate glimpse into the life of this artist-designer, who, until recently, has gone largely unrecognized in the US.