Arthur “Art” Smith (1917–1982) was a leading modernist jeweler of the mid-20th century. He is of Jamaican ancestry and was born in Cuba. He immigrated to New York City in 1920, with his parents when he was 3 years old. He attended the Cooper Union School of Art where he majored in sculpture and graduated in 1940. He later took a night course in jewelry making at NYU. He is well known for creating “Wearable Sculpture.”
He opened his first jewelry shop on Cornelia Street in NYC in 1946 and later moved the shop to 140 west Fourth Street which he operated until 1979. His jewelry was carried in many stores including Bloomingdale’s and Milton Heffing in Manhattan, James Boutique in Houston, L’Unique in Minneapolis, and Black Tulip in Dallas. Art Smith also designed jewelry for several avant-garde black dance companies
Today the Cooper Hewitt Museum in NYC holds at least 19 pieces of his jewelry. (See Cooper Hewitt collection). His work is also included in the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, DC. (See Modern Cuff at NMAAHC.)
Art Smith was a jazz enthusiast, and a supporter of early black modern dance groups. He died in 1982 of heart disease.
Exhibitions:
1969 – New York’s Museum of Contemporary Crafts (now the Museum of Art and Design)
1970 – Objects: USA, a large traveling exhibition organized by Lee Nordness
1990 – Arthur Smith: A Jeweler’s Retrospective organized by the Jamaica Arts Center, New York
1998 – Sculpture to Wear: Art Smith and His Contemporaries, at the Gansevoort Gallery, NYC
2008 – From the Village to Vogue: The Modernist Jewelry of Art Smith, Brooklyn Museum
External Links:
- Art Smith Jewelry Design
- Frederick Magazine, 9/16/2024
- Arthur Smith: A Jeweler’s Retrospective Catalog
- The Brooklyn Musuem, From the Village to Vogue: The Modernist Jewelry of Art Smith
- Cooper Hewitt Collections, Art Smith Jewelry Holdings (accessed 9/13/2026)
- Wikipedia Art Smith (jeweler)