Spanierman Gallery | An American Art Blog

Francis Hopkinson Smith, ca. 1903, Library of Congress

Lisa N. Peters

Francis Hopkinson Smith’s life seems to contradict his art.  Clearly a dynamic individual who had unstoppable energy, Smith (1838-1915) was a prominent marine engineer (among other structures, he designed the foundation for the Statue of Liberty), a prolific writer (he published novels, short stories, articles, and travel books), a successful illustrator, a popular lecturer (praised by the editors of the Harvard Crimson, for “his own rare charm of manner and utterance”), a noted “after-dinner raconteur,”a member of many artist groups (including The Tile Club), and an incessant traveler.  As an artist, he was a seemingly inexhaustible fount of creativity.  In a review of a show of Smith’s work at the Noé Galleries in New York in 1906, the critic Arthur Hoeber stated: “one is impressed at the variousness of the man who never repeats himself through the fifty pictures he brought back from his annual summer tour in Europe.”  (The Sketch Book 5, June 1906, 347)

Nonetheless, Smith’s art expresses the joy and satisfaction he received from relaxation, listless wandering, and idling away his time.  He also wrote of seeking just such experiences.  In an article of 1891, he recounted how he had “tried all sort of moving things to paint from, including tartanas in Spain, volantes in Cuba, broad-sailed luggers in Holland, mules in Mexico, and cabs everywhere,” but his favorite of all vessels was the Venetian gondola, where instead of “being shaken” by other passengers who might jostle your “brush hand,” you are provided with “a little boudoir with down cushions, and silk fringes and soft morocco coverings,” and “kept afloat by a long, lithe, swan-like moving boat.”  (Smith, “Espero Gorgoni, Gondolier,” Scribner’s 10, December 1891, 688).  In his book Gondola Days (1897, Houghton, Mifflin) Smith wrote that in strolling through Venice: Read the rest of this entry »