Reflection

Hughie Lee-Smith (1915-1999) was an American painter known for his Surrealist-influenced figure paintings that depict isolated figures in desolate urban landscapes with the psychological isolation that distinguishes his work from the more social Realism of his contemporaries. Reflection from 1957 depicts a lone figure reflected in a desolate landscape in the precise, melancholy manner that distinguishes Lee-Smith's best work. The 1957 date places this in Lee-Smith's most productive period, when he was producing the isolated-figure paintings that make him one of the most distinctive American painters of the mid-20th century.

Reflection is important in the history of American painting because it demonstrates the Surrealist-influenced isolation that distinguishes Lee-Smith's work from the more social Realism of his contemporaries. The lone figure in a desolate landscape creates a type of American painting that is simultaneously Realist and Surrealist—precise in technique but dreamlike in atmosphere—that anticipates the psychological isolation of later American figurative painting.

Reflection is Lee-Smith's Surrealist isolation in an American key: a lone figure reflected in a desolate landscape rendered with the precise technique and psychological isolation that distinguish his work from social Realism. The 1957 painting creates a type of American figurative painting that is simultaneously Realist and Surrealist.