Lewis Smith, Buffalo "Times-Star", 1960. Crayon and ballpoint on a paper bag. Two-sided drawing.
Lewis Smith (1907–1998) lived much of his life in rural Ohio, where he covered discarded paper, cardboard, and found materials with densely imagined drawings and text. Working almost entirely outside the traditional art world, he developed a highly personal visual language centered on wrestling, boxing, trains, money, and popular culture. Today, Smith is recognized as one of the most distinctive self-taught American artists of the twentieth century.
