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Who's
Who in Jessamine County - Past and Present
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"During
the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, Harlem spread itself before the
cameras of Morgan and Marvin Smith like a great tablecloth,
and eagerly they went about devouring what it had to offer."
-Gordon
Parks Sr.
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Morgan
Smith
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Marvin
Smith
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Morgan
and Marvin Smith were born on February 16, 1910, to a sharecropper
family in Nicholasville, Kentucky. While living in rural Kentucky,
the Smith twins were exposed to a limited amount of opportunities.
They were not exposed to the opportunities that would lead to their
photographic success until the late 1920s when their family moved
to Lexington. As residents of Lexington, Morgan and Marvin Smith
attended Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, Lexington's sole African
American high school at that time. It was in high school that the
twins found the encouragement they needed to pursue their interest
in art. During their time at Dunbar, Morgan and Marvin Smith developed
their artistic abilities in areas of art ranging from oil paintings
to soap sculptures. It was only a matter of time before they began
working with Lexington artists Eleanor Pryor and Matthew Archdeacon.
It was Archdeacon who provided the brothers with their first camera.
Upon graduation from high school in 1933, Morgan and Marvin Smith
decided to pursue their art full time. Because Kentucky provided
black artists with little or no opportunity for success, the Smith
twins decided to continue their work in Cincinnati, but when they
reached Cincinnati, they found that the likelihood of success was
not much greater than it had been in Lexington. It was then that
Morgan and Marvin Smith moved to New York to build their careers
in art.
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Robert
Day playing Hi-Li, 1937
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Shortly after Morgan and Marvin Smith arrived in Harlem, they found work with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) performing manual labor. After settling in Harlem, the brothers began taking art lessons from Augusta Savage at her studio on 126th Street. It was through Ms. Savage that the twins came in contact with other prominent artists and began to connect themselves to the famed "306 Group." The talents of Morgan and Marvin Smith were first noticed by the public in 1937 when Morgan won an award for his photograph of a young boy playing hi-li. Robert Day, the young boy in the photograph, soon became the subject of other works produced by the Smith brothers. After 1937, Morgan and Marvin Smith decided to focus their photographic efforts on life in the Harlem community. Unlike many photographers of the time, the twins refused to document the misfortune that existed in Harlem during the 1930s. Instead, they turned their attention to the positive aspects of Harlem and its people.
In
1950, Marvin Smith left Harlem so that he could study under Romare
Bearden in Paris. While in Paris, Marvin developed his skills in
abstract painting and had the opportunity to meet and work with
Pablo Picasso. During Marvin's stay in Paris, Morgan became interested
in film and eventually became a sound technician for ABC. When Marvin
returned from France in 1952, Morgan taught him about the film industry
and Marvin became a sound technician for NBC. Once the Smith brothers
began work in the film industry, they concentrated less on their
photography. In 1968, Morgan and Marvin Smith closed their Harlem
photography studio at 141 West 125th Street.
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Morgan
and Marvin Smith, 1982
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Morgan
and Marvin Smith continued to work in the arts until their retirement
in 1975. On February 17, 1993, Morgan Smith died at the age of 83.
Today, Marvin Smith resides in Harlem where he continues to express
his love for art by knitting Kinte clothes. The Smith brothers were
successful in every area of their artistic careers, but they will
always be known for their artistic rendering of photographic Harlem.
