New Exhibit Opening Francis Drexel Smith: A Legacy on Canvas Nov 17. 2018 - Dec. 28, 2019 Credit: (Garden of the Gods), 1921, CSPM collection, Gift of Florence K. Lawrie The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum is excited to announce the opening of our newest exhibit, Francis Drexel Smith: A Legacy on Canvas. In conjunction with the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the Broadmoor Art Academy, the exhibit will run November 17, 2018 – December 28, 2019. During five decades as a professional artist in Colorado Springs, Smith completed hundreds of canvases and was a key supporter and contributor to the nascent Colorado Springs arts community. This exhibition will feature more than 20 paintings, many executed between 1920 and 1945. During that time, he entered works in juried shows throughout the country, including museums in Buffalo, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Denver, Seattle and New Orleans. Born to a wealthy Chicago family in 1874, Francis Drexel Smith came to Colorado Springs in 1900. Like so many other well-off emigrants from the East and Midwest, he came for his health, recovered and stayed for a lifetime. One of three children, Frank Smith was a typical middle child – quiet, reflective and responsible. As a parent, he was gentle and supportive, raising his autistic son and four stepchildren to become successful, productive adults. His children and contemporaries described him as a whimsical man who loved costume parties and formal dinners. In the 1920s, he often wore a raccoon coat, as depicted in John McClymont’s 1920 full-length portrait that will greet visitors to the exhibit. Smith’s career as a professional artist began in the very early 1900s, after having studied under John Vanderpoel in Chicago. Vamderpoel was a rigorous and exacting teacher who demanded that his students master traditional skills. He was a member and officer of the Colorado Springs Arts Society, the city’s first artists’ association, a founder and board chair of the Broadmoor Art Academy and a founding trustee of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. He maintained his studio there for nearly 20 years. In the 1930s, Smith’s work deepened and matured. Clearly influenced by contemporaries such as Kansas native John Steuart Curry, Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton, Smith abandoned complex still lifes and dark, mystical landscapes for spare depictions of urban spaces, often suffused with bright natural light. MUSELETTER NOVEMBER 2018 | PG 4
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