Gordon W. Smith
Encyclopedia
Gordon William Smith was an artist and collector of American Indian art and ethnographic materials who lived in and was a native of Fort Worth, Texas
. His collection of American Indian
art, which was featured between August 2008 and August 2009 in a special exhibition at the Houston Museum of Natural Science
entitled Quest for High Bear: A Boy’s Odyssey Through Indian Country 1925-1939http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/special_exhibits/Quest_for_High_Bear.asp?r=1, and has been display at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
since November 2009, was acquired by the Houston Museum of Natural Science
in 2009. Gordon W. Smith was also a publisher, and was an officer in the US Navy during World War II
. He died on March 4, 2010, in Fort Worth, Texas.http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dfw/obituary.aspx?n=gordon-william-smith&pid=140369336
, Smith met Two-Guns-White-Calf,http://www.firstpeople.us/photographs2/Two-Guns-White-Calf-Blackfoot-1923.html a Blackfoot chief who gave him a small black rawhide rattle. Meeting Two-Guns-White-Calf began a boyhood odyssey through the American West that would lead to an enduring love for the indigenous cultures of North America. The small rattle was the first object of a collection that grew to over 1000 pieces, almost all of which were collected between 1925 and the beginning of World War II from Indians themselves and from Indian traders.
In World War II, he served in the US Navy as captain of two ships in the Pacific. He was made captain of his first ship, LCT 68, in 1943 at age 22, and was spot-promoted to full lieutenant at age 23 upon taking command of his second ship, LSM 37 http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/14/14037.htm. As captain of these two ships, he participated in thirteen landings on Japanese-held islands.
After the war, he obtained an MA in English literature at Columbia University
(‘50), where he also studied studio art with noted Italian sculptor Oronzio Maldarelli
. He also had a BA in English literature from Southern Methodist University
.
In 1950, he founded Smiths, Inc., a publishing house based in Fort Worth, and in 1962, he co-founded Smith Studios with his brother James Hulbert, an architectural arts firm of which he was principal and chief designer. Smith Studios completed over 800 commissioned works in 14 states before it closed upon his retirement in 2003 at the age of 82, to devote himself more fully to cataloging his collection of American Indian materials, painting on American Indian themes,and writing a book on his experiences with Indians.
. “He was their friend during a time when being an American Indian had an extremely negative connotation in the United States.”http://www.hmnspress.org/Press_FullStory.aspx?contentid=344
Smith’s parents wholeheartedly supported his interest in American Indians and enabled his amassing of a large collection of Indian art and ethnographic objects in the 1920s and 1930s. From age 5 onward, at least once a year, Smith’s father, W. D. Smith – an attorney and one of the early partners of the Fort Worth law firm Cantey Hangar http://www.canteyhanger.com/ – and his mother Mary Anna took him on trips to visit Indians that often lasted one or two months. In this way, he learned from the Indians themselves about their histories, beliefs, and lifeways, and he collected examples of their material culture – objects in many cases given to him by the Indians he knew.
Smith visited every Indian “culture area” of North America. He met Indians, and he learned from them as he collected objects that he knew they valued themselves. During the 1930s he made many friends among Plains Indians
, especially among the Lakota Sioux
, including still-living elders who had fought the invading white man in the 19th century, but had by then been moved to reservations. As he grew older, he spent longer periods of time with Indians, particularly at Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota
. He was inducted in 1934 into the Lakota Sioux tribe at a ceremony in Kansas City
, where he was given the Indian name High Bear (Mato Wankantu).
His boyhood sojourns in Indian Country ended with the coming of World War II
. Nevertheless, this was only an interlude in his lifelong study of American Indians and their cultures. In the last decade of his life, he completed a book about his experiences, and also painted several works on Indian themes.
The first major exhibition drawn from the Gordon W. Smith American Indian collection, entitled Quest for High Bear: A Boy’s Odyssey Through Indian Country 1925-1939,http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/special_exhibits/Quest_for_High_Bear.asp?r=1http://www.gscs.rice.edu/NccCourseView.asp?Mode=View&clCourseID=604 opened in August, 2008, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science
. Objects from the Gordon Smith collection have in the past been on display in the Amon Carter Museum
in Fort Worth, the Dallas Museum of Art
, and previously at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
.
In September, 2009, the Houston Museum of Natural Science announced that it had acquired the Smith Collection.http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/permanent_exhibits/smith_collection.asp As steward of the collection, the Houston Museum of Natural Science also announced that it has entered into a cooperative sharing program with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/permanent_exhibits/smith_collection.asp?r=1 The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History opened the exhibition "Quest for High Bear" as part of the opening exhibits at its new building in November, 2009, and a program of ongoing loans and exhibits from the Gordon W. Smith American Indian Collection is planned between the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.http://www.fwmuseum.org/native-american-gallery
These include a large “wall of glass” installation depicting "Creation" in the chapel of New Mexico Military Institute
in Roswell, NM,http://www.nmmi.edu/virtual_tour/360tour/tour.php?show=sanctuary and one of the largest mosaic installations ever created in the US, depicting a “Cosmic Christ” on the front of the First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Alabama.http://www.fbchsv.org/aboutfbc/mosaic.html That work took 7 years to complete (1966 to 1973), and is approximately one-third the size of a football field. Approximately 1.4 million pieces of Italian tile - none larger than a man's thumbnail - comprise the mosaic, each piece having been set in place by the artist (in some cases with tweezers). Smith’s final installed work produced at Smith Studios was a stained glass window depicting the story of Noah’s ark commissioned by Cook Children’s Health Care System in Fort Worth, and dedicated in 2003.http://www.cookchildrens.org/physiciansservices/Pages/ServiceInfo.aspx?ID=96
Smith Studios also worked in the area of historical restoration, and completed a number of notable projects including the restoration of the Texas & Pacific Terminal in Fort Worth. In 2002, Smith was awarded the Artisans Award by the Texas Society of Architects
for Smith Studios’ work in historical restoration.http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=2901http://texasarchitect.org/awards_honor.php?sess_id=d98a439b3d397fe3a231a382e2f5eb12
A retrospective exhibition of Smith’s work in stained glass and sculpture, as well as works on canvas and on paper, was held in 2004 at the University Gallery at Texas Christian University
in Fort Worth.http://www.newsevents.tcu.edu/legacy_archive.asp?inc=news_000305.htm,http://www.keymagfw.com/1004/events.html He worked as an artist until his death, and his last works on canvas emphasized American Indian themes.
,http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806579-2,00.html,http://www.thedustjacket.biz/si/3162.html later noted for his groundbreaking book Black Like Me
.
. In his late wife’s honor, Smith and his son and daughter, Gordon Dee Smith and Beverley Blaine Smith, have funded the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the Best Performance of a New Work http://www.cliburn.org/index.php?page=cliburn_prizes, which is awarded to a competitor at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
every four years for the best performance of a new work by an American composer, chosen through the American Composers Invitational of the Van Cliburn Foundation.
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. His collection of American Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
art, which was featured between August 2008 and August 2009 in a special exhibition at the Houston Museum of Natural Science
Houston Museum of Natural Science
The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a science museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, USA. The museum was established in 1909 by the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, an organization whose goals were to provide a free institution for the people of Houston...
entitled Quest for High Bear: A Boy’s Odyssey Through Indian Country 1925-1939http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/special_exhibits/Quest_for_High_Bear.asp?r=1, and has been display at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is located on 1600 Gendy Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76107 in the city's Cultural District. It was opened in 1945 as the Fort Worth Children's Museum and moved to its current location in 1954. In 1968, the museum adopted its current name...
since November 2009, was acquired by the Houston Museum of Natural Science
Houston Museum of Natural Science
The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a science museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, USA. The museum was established in 1909 by the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, an organization whose goals were to provide a free institution for the people of Houston...
in 2009. Gordon W. Smith was also a publisher, and was an officer in the US Navy during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He died on March 4, 2010, in Fort Worth, Texas.http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dfw/obituary.aspx?n=gordon-william-smith&pid=140369336
Life
Born in Fort Worth as the grandson of a pioneer family that had moved to North Texas in the 1870s, Gordon Smith grew up hearing tales of Indians from his grandparents. In 1925, at the age of five, while on a family vacation in Glacier National Park, MontanaMontana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, Smith met Two-Guns-White-Calf,http://www.firstpeople.us/photographs2/Two-Guns-White-Calf-Blackfoot-1923.html a Blackfoot chief who gave him a small black rawhide rattle. Meeting Two-Guns-White-Calf began a boyhood odyssey through the American West that would lead to an enduring love for the indigenous cultures of North America. The small rattle was the first object of a collection that grew to over 1000 pieces, almost all of which were collected between 1925 and the beginning of World War II from Indians themselves and from Indian traders.
In World War II, he served in the US Navy as captain of two ships in the Pacific. He was made captain of his first ship, LCT 68, in 1943 at age 22, and was spot-promoted to full lieutenant at age 23 upon taking command of his second ship, LSM 37 http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/14/14037.htm. As captain of these two ships, he participated in thirteen landings on Japanese-held islands.
After the war, he obtained an MA in English literature at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
(‘50), where he also studied studio art with noted Italian sculptor Oronzio Maldarelli
Oronzio Maldarelli
-Education:He was born on September 9, 1892 and immigrated with his parents, Michael Maldarelli, a goldsmith, and mother, Louisa Rizzo Maldarelli, to the United States in 1901. About 1906 he began taking modeling lessons at the Cooper Union, and after two years began to study at the National...
. He also had a BA in English literature from Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
.
In 1950, he founded Smiths, Inc., a publishing house based in Fort Worth, and in 1962, he co-founded Smith Studios with his brother James Hulbert, an architectural arts firm of which he was principal and chief designer. Smith Studios completed over 800 commissioned works in 14 states before it closed upon his retirement in 2003 at the age of 82, to devote himself more fully to cataloging his collection of American Indian materials, painting on American Indian themes,and writing a book on his experiences with Indians.
Collection of American Indian Art and Ethnographic Materials
Smith has been noted for his early involvement with America Indians. “Mr. Smith had a unique relationship with several American Indian tribes, as is evidenced by the number of gifts he exchanged with them,” said Dirk Van Tuerenhout, Ph.D., curator of anthropology at the Houston Museum of Natural ScienceHouston Museum of Natural Science
The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a science museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, USA. The museum was established in 1909 by the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, an organization whose goals were to provide a free institution for the people of Houston...
. “He was their friend during a time when being an American Indian had an extremely negative connotation in the United States.”http://www.hmnspress.org/Press_FullStory.aspx?contentid=344
Smith’s parents wholeheartedly supported his interest in American Indians and enabled his amassing of a large collection of Indian art and ethnographic objects in the 1920s and 1930s. From age 5 onward, at least once a year, Smith’s father, W. D. Smith – an attorney and one of the early partners of the Fort Worth law firm Cantey Hangar http://www.canteyhanger.com/ – and his mother Mary Anna took him on trips to visit Indians that often lasted one or two months. In this way, he learned from the Indians themselves about their histories, beliefs, and lifeways, and he collected examples of their material culture – objects in many cases given to him by the Indians he knew.
Smith visited every Indian “culture area” of North America. He met Indians, and he learned from them as he collected objects that he knew they valued themselves. During the 1930s he made many friends among Plains Indians
Plains Indians
The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...
, especially among the Lakota Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
, including still-living elders who had fought the invading white man in the 19th century, but had by then been moved to reservations. As he grew older, he spent longer periods of time with Indians, particularly at Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
. He was inducted in 1934 into the Lakota Sioux tribe at a ceremony in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, where he was given the Indian name High Bear (Mato Wankantu).
His boyhood sojourns in Indian Country ended with the coming of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Nevertheless, this was only an interlude in his lifelong study of American Indians and their cultures. In the last decade of his life, he completed a book about his experiences, and also painted several works on Indian themes.
The first major exhibition drawn from the Gordon W. Smith American Indian collection, entitled Quest for High Bear: A Boy’s Odyssey Through Indian Country 1925-1939,http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/special_exhibits/Quest_for_High_Bear.asp?r=1http://www.gscs.rice.edu/NccCourseView.asp?Mode=View&clCourseID=604 opened in August, 2008, at the Houston Museum of Natural Science
Houston Museum of Natural Science
The Houston Museum of Natural Science is a science museum located on the northern border of Hermann Park in Houston, Texas, USA. The museum was established in 1909 by the Houston Museum and Scientific Society, an organization whose goals were to provide a free institution for the people of Houston...
. Objects from the Gordon Smith collection have in the past been on display in the Amon Carter Museum
Amon Carter Museum
The Amon Carter Museum of American Art is located in Fort Worth, Texas. It was established by Amon G. Carter to house his collection of paintings and sculpture by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. Carter’s will provided a museum in Fort Worth devoted to American art.When the museum opened...
in Fort Worth, the Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas Museum of Art
The Dallas Museum of Art is a major art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, USA, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In 1984, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Arts District, Dallas, Texas...
, and previously at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History is located on 1600 Gendy Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76107 in the city's Cultural District. It was opened in 1945 as the Fort Worth Children's Museum and moved to its current location in 1954. In 1968, the museum adopted its current name...
.
In September, 2009, the Houston Museum of Natural Science announced that it had acquired the Smith Collection.http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/permanent_exhibits/smith_collection.asp As steward of the collection, the Houston Museum of Natural Science also announced that it has entered into a cooperative sharing program with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.http://www.hmns.org/exhibits/permanent_exhibits/smith_collection.asp?r=1 The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History opened the exhibition "Quest for High Bear" as part of the opening exhibits at its new building in November, 2009, and a program of ongoing loans and exhibits from the Gordon W. Smith American Indian Collection is planned between the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.http://www.fwmuseum.org/native-american-gallery
Works of Art and Smith Studios
Primarily known for his works of architectural art in the media of stained glass, mosaic, and sculpture, for 41 years Gordon Smith was the principal and chief designer of Smith Studios (previously Smith Stained Glass Studios), an architectural arts firm he founded based in Fort Worth, Texas. Between 1962 and 2003, he designed and created more than 800 commissioned works, including stained glass windows, sculptures, and mosaics in churches, office buildings, and private homes in 14 states.http://www.historicfortworth.org/Portals/1/Newsletters/HFW%20July%202008%20Newsletter.pdfThese include a large “wall of glass” installation depicting "Creation" in the chapel of New Mexico Military Institute
New Mexico Military Institute
New Mexico Military Institute is a state-supported educational institution. NMMI is located in Roswell, New Mexico, United States. It is sometimes referred to as the West Point of the West and it is the only state-supported military college located in the western United States. NMMI includes a...
in Roswell, NM,http://www.nmmi.edu/virtual_tour/360tour/tour.php?show=sanctuary and one of the largest mosaic installations ever created in the US, depicting a “Cosmic Christ” on the front of the First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Alabama.http://www.fbchsv.org/aboutfbc/mosaic.html That work took 7 years to complete (1966 to 1973), and is approximately one-third the size of a football field. Approximately 1.4 million pieces of Italian tile - none larger than a man's thumbnail - comprise the mosaic, each piece having been set in place by the artist (in some cases with tweezers). Smith’s final installed work produced at Smith Studios was a stained glass window depicting the story of Noah’s ark commissioned by Cook Children’s Health Care System in Fort Worth, and dedicated in 2003.http://www.cookchildrens.org/physiciansservices/Pages/ServiceInfo.aspx?ID=96
Smith Studios also worked in the area of historical restoration, and completed a number of notable projects including the restoration of the Texas & Pacific Terminal in Fort Worth. In 2002, Smith was awarded the Artisans Award by the Texas Society of Architects
Texas Society of Architects
The Texas Society of Architects is an organization based in Austin, Texas, that represents 74,000 architects in Texas that are members of the American Institute of Architects....
for Smith Studios’ work in historical restoration.http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=2901http://texasarchitect.org/awards_honor.php?sess_id=d98a439b3d397fe3a231a382e2f5eb12
A retrospective exhibition of Smith’s work in stained glass and sculpture, as well as works on canvas and on paper, was held in 2004 at the University Gallery at Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University is a private, coeducational university located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States and founded in 1873. TCU is affiliated with, but not governed by, the Disciples of Christ...
in Fort Worth.http://www.newsevents.tcu.edu/legacy_archive.asp?inc=news_000305.htm,http://www.keymagfw.com/1004/events.html He worked as an artist until his death, and his last works on canvas emphasized American Indian themes.
Work in Publishing
As principal of Smiths, Inc., Gordon Smith published several books in the 1950s, including The Devil Rides Outside, the first novel by Texas author John Howard GriffinJohn Howard Griffin
John Howard Griffin was an American journalist and author much of whose writing was about racial equality. He is best known for darkening his skin and journeying through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia to experience segregation in the Deep South in 1959...
,http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,806579-2,00.html,http://www.thedustjacket.biz/si/3162.html later noted for his groundbreaking book Black Like Me
Black Like Me
Black Like Me is a non-fiction book by journalist John Howard Griffin first published in 1961. Griffin was a white native of Mansfield, Texas and the book describes his six-week experience travelling on Greyhound buses throughout the racially segregated states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama...
.
Family
Gordon W. Smith was married, until her death in 1998, to Beverley Taylor Smith, a Fort Worth civic leader, actress, and host in the late 1950s and early 1960s of a local television show, the Ann Alden Show,http://www.knus99.com/deathroll.htm who was also for many years chairman of the Cliburn Concerts division of the Van Cliburn FoundationVan Cliburn Foundation
The Van Cliburn Foundation is host to the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs™, Musical Awakenings® education programs, and Cliburn Concerts.-Mission:...
. In his late wife’s honor, Smith and his son and daughter, Gordon Dee Smith and Beverley Blaine Smith, have funded the Beverley Taylor Smith Award for the Best Performance of a New Work http://www.cliburn.org/index.php?page=cliburn_prizes, which is awarded to a competitor at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition was first held in 1962 in Fort Worth, Texas and is hosted by Van Cliburn Foundation. It was created by Fort Worth area teachers in honor of Van Cliburn, who had won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition four years prior with Tchaikovsky's...
every four years for the best performance of a new work by an American composer, chosen through the American Composers Invitational of the Van Cliburn Foundation.