Biography

Kimber Smith was an American abstract painter. Best known for his lyrical compositions and distinctive lexicon of personal symbols, he eschewed the aggressive monumentality of the Abstract Expressionist era to focus on relatively small paintings of simple, entropic forms and colors. Born in 1922 in Boston, MA, Smith went on to study at the Art Students League of New York shortly after the end of World War II. He would subsequently move to Paris, France in 1954, where he befriended fellow American ex-patriate painters Sam Francis and Joan Mitchell. Upon his return to New York in 1966, Smith had gained significant critical acclaim, which led to his mounting a solo exhibition at the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio in 1967 and garnering a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1971. Smith continued his prolific legacy until his death on April 21, 1981 in Southampton, NY at the age of 59. Today, his paintings among the collections of the Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Zurich Art Museum, among others.