Leon Polk Smith: The Tamarind Lithography Workshop

Leon Polk Smith (1906–1996) was a leading practitioner of the geometric, hard-edge abstraction popular in the mid-twentieth century. This exhibition of fifteen prints from the Carter’s permanent collection embraces both Smith’s American Indian heritage and the modernist abstraction of artists like Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872–1944).

Smith’s bicultural experiences informed his devotion to geometric patterning and pure colors–he derived formal elements from the design and craft of native peoples and the avant-garde’s credo of non-representation and economy of expression.