Detail View: CVPA Alumni (Swain): Jason and Cruesa

13005_01_0082

Smith, David Loeffler

American

1928 - 2012

EXETER, N.H. — David Loeffler Smith, the former Director of the Swain School of Design from 1962 until 1966, died on July 25 in Exeter, New Hampshire. Born May 1, 1928 to Adele (Loeffler) Smith and highly regarded American painter Jacob Getlar Smith, he was raised and educated in New York City. After attending Little Red Schoolhouse and the High School of Music and Art, Smith earned his BA from Bard College in 1950 and his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1952. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War 1952-54. Having studied painting with his father and Stephan Hirsh, Hans Hofmann and Raphael Soyer, Smith embarked on his own career as a painter and teacher of painting. He was accomplished and distinguished in both endeavors. His teaching career began at Chatham College in Pittsburgh, PA. He moved to New Bedford to assume the Director's position at Swain in 1962. During his tenure there, Smith was the motivation behind overhauling the curriculum, doubling of the enrollment, and initiating the steps which led to a degree program in the Fine Arts. In 1966 he left the Director's position in order to get back to teaching and to focus more time on his own painting. He remained at Swain, receiving the Swain Medal in 1980 for his outstanding service and contributions. Swain eventually merged with U Mass-Dartmouth, and Smith continued to teach there until his retirement in 1992. Beloved as a teacher and mentor, Smith leaves a long and distinguished legacy as someone devoted to the highest ideals of both art and education. Smith's work is highly acclaimed and nationally recognized. Over the course of his painting career, he had 10 one-man exhibitions at the First Street Gallery and M-13 Gallery in New York City. Most recently Smith exhibited in New Bedford at Crowell's Fine Art Gallery in 2010 and in a retrospective in 2011 at the New Bedford Art Museum. He served as Visiting Critic and Guest Lecturer at the Maryland Art Institute, the Graduate Program at C.U.N.Y.'s Queens and Brooklyn Colleges, the Graduate Program at Parsons School of Design, the Vermont Studio School, and the International School of Art in Todi, Italy. He was Contributing Editor to the English magazine Art and Artists from 1970-73 and wrote for Pantheon (Munich) and the American publications Arts Magazine, Antiques Magazine, American Journal, and American Artist. Smith and his wife relocated to Riverwoods in Exeter, NH where he continued to paint on a daily basis. Students and friends will take solace in the knowledge that David painted on the day he died. David Loeffler Smith is survived by his wife of 55 years, Jean Van Schoonhoven Smith, daughter and son-in-law Cornelia and Richard Maxted of Port Washington, NY, daughter and son-in-law Sarah and Bruce Barton of Holderness, NH, and four grandchildren, Katherine and Peter Maxted and Jacob and Margaret Barton.

"David Loeffler Smith." SouthCoastToday.com. Local Media Group, Inc., 19 Aug. 2012. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.

Jason and Cruesa

1978

1978

painting

Oil on paper

14 x 12 inches (35.6 x 30.5 cm)

35mm ektachrome slide

American

Image

lscharf

2014/02/27

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Visual Resource Center

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Archives and Special Collections

http://www1.umassd.edu/cvpa/vrc/

http://www.lib.umassd.edu/archives/