This painting by Jerome Howard Smith, “possibly titled Before the Crash, was
located hidden in the attic of a Whidbey Island, Washington residence.
At one time Smith lived in Chase and was known for his Western-themed
art" via the Salmon Arm Observer.
While this painting might be depicting scenes beyond our city borders, it is just too good to overlook. Furthermore, JH Smith has actually lived and worked in Vancouver previously. Gary Sim has a biographical introduction on the artist here: http://www.sim-publishing.com/bca/smithjh.htm
Notably, he’s referred to as Josiah Howard Smith, and also Jerome Howard Smith; JH may have tired of his historic birth name, and perhaps wanted something a bit more contemporary.
Gary mentions he arrived on the coast in 1913, and by
September 1917 he was exhibiting artwork at the annual exhibition of the
B.C. Society of Fine Arts.
In 1918, his work appeared alongside the illustrations of John Innes, the cartoonist HAL, and the poetry of
Pauline Johnson.
More of his illustrations appeared in the 1926 book Chinook Days, including the above ink drawing of the Lions. UBC has digitized the entire book here: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcbooks/items/1.0342833#p8z-6r0f:
I’ve also included a newspaper article from Los Angeles in 1958, which mentions the work of JH Smith. It seems a collector, a Mr. Phil Coffer, became quite infatuated with his work, and he bought 120 of his paintings at the time. That’s the start of a good catalogue raisonné!
Back to the painting in question, it’s not mentioned if Mr. Coffer had ever seen this work, but perhaps not. Was it created shortly after the great crash of 1929, or some time in the years that followed till his death in 1941? We don’t even know for certain.
Could this painting be intended for the lobby of a post office or civic building as many WPA murals were? Was its reception a story similar to Rockefeller’s response to Diego Rivera’s mural for the Rockefeller Center? The mystery and intrigue behind the work is as fascinating as the painting itself.
And boy oh boy, what a painting! It is an absolute masterpiece.
We are lucky just to get a chance to see it, even if the artist never lived to see the work on display. Jim Cooperman
at the Salmon Arm Observer has already pointed out how the work “can now serve as a teaching tool for studying the era
and it serves as a reminder that the more things change, the more life
stays the same.” While there are certainly historical missteps we do not wish to repeat, finding lost murals like this is something I hope we get to see more of.