Lawrence Beall Smith

• Name — Lawrence Beall Smith • Born — 2 October 1909 • Birthplace — Washington, D.C., United States • Died — 1995 • Place of death — Cross River, New York, United States • Field — Painting

Smith's early childhood was spent in the Carolinas, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana, moving with his family for his father's work in the United States Military. He studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.B. (Bachelor of Philosophy) in 1931. Smith began exhibiting his art in 1935 and gained a strong national reputation by 1941 when a one-man exhibition of his art was launched at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Starting in the 1930s, Smith was commissioned to create work for Associated American Artists, and became one of their most prolific and successful lithographers, creating work alongside the likes of Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, and John Steuart Curry. Smith created sold out works for the AAA through the 1970s.

At the start America's entry into World War II, Smith created posters for the war effort. Subsequently, through his connection with the Associated American Artists, Smith was sponsored by Abbott Laboratories and hosted by the War Department to serve in battle as a combat artist. In 1943, Smith spent three months on aircraft carriers in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, creating works on naval aviation operations. In 1944, he was sent to England to document the Medical Corps’ work there. He volunteered to stay beyond his tour in order to contribute to and witness for posterity the Normandy invasion. His paintings created on the battlefield are the only first-hand D-Day artworks in existence. • Illustration — Don't Let that Shadow Touch Them (1942) War Bonds Poster by Lawrence Beall Smith • Illustration — "The Man without a Gun" (1944, Normandy) - painting by Lawrence Beall Smith • Illustration — "Monsters at Omaha Beach" (1944, Normandy) - painting by Lawrence Beall Smith