Talk:Ernest Smith (artist)

Material trimmed from draft
"Smith used this project to paint what he knew, the stories and myths of Seneca culture as well the daily life of his village. His works, however, were heavily policed and critiqued by Parker who wanted to use the art as a way to preserve what he saw as a dying culture. He often forced Smith and the other painters to paint these myths and idealized versions of daily life in the Haudenosaunee villages. Nonetheless, was still able to create some of his best works, such as Sky Woman and War Party. Unfortunately, Smith was not able to paint full time due to money issues and after 1940 he took a very prolonged break from art. This was largely due to the fact that he was paid very unfairly. His timecards show that he worked 40.5 hours on Sky Woman but was only paid $20.25 revealing he was paid $.50 per hour. For his work War Party, which took him 19 hours to complete, he was paid $.41 an hour (Keating). During this time off, Smith had odd jobs as an auto mechanic, a blueprint drafter, and an employee for the local Department of Parks. He began working as an artist again in the early 1970’s, but unfortunately was largely controlled by his patrons once again. This sadly led Smith to alcoholism until his death in 1975 (Keating). " The above may or may not be useful; I trimmed it from another user's draft. --- Possibly &#9742; 09:27, 2 July 2021 (UTC)