Paul Smith was an American typewriter artist.

Early life

Smith was born in 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

. He suffered from severe spastic cerebral palsy

Spastic cerebral palsy

Spastic cerebral palsy is the type of cerebral palsy wherein spasticity is either the dominant or exclusive impairment present.It is by far the most common type of overall cerebral palsy, occurring in 90% of all cases according to the Society for Cerebral Palsy in Europe ; even if the 90% assertion...

 from an early age. The loss of fine motor control of his face and hands made it impossible for him to attend school—or even eat, clothe, or bathe himself—and also made it difficult for him to express himself.

Early in life Paul discovered the typewriter and a technique for using it to create pictures. He was able to use one hand to steady the other and thus press the desired key. He was creating typewriter art from age 15, and steadily refined his technique.

In the 1940s, Paul's family moved to Hollywood, Florida

Hollywood, Florida

-Demographics:As of 2000, there were 59,673 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of...

.

Paul never married and had no children. In 1967 he entered a retirement facility.

Death and afterward

As he aged, Smith's cataracts worsened, and he was not able to create art of as high a quality. He stopped creating pictures in 2004.

Smith died in June, 2007.

Published works

Paul did not publish any works, but his work has been collected into several books of art.

External links

• http://www.paulsmithfoundation.org/ Official website
  • http://www.paulsmithfoundation.org/main_gallery.html Gallery
• http://www.chessville.com/misc/Paul%20Smith/Paul_Smith.htm An article, includes samples
• http://www.oregonnews.com/article/20070628/NEWS/70628031 Obituary and more information