  About the Artwork
  
  
  Lee-Smith, an African-American painter who grew up in Cleveland, lived and worked in Detroit between the years 1945 and 1958. The Piper explores the loneliness of the urban individual and the psychological alienation of the young. Personal symbolism guides the formal construction of this work: the wall, an indicator of the difficulty of escape; the young boy, a metaphor for mankind; and music, a symbol of the longing to break free. The crumbling wall is in the shadow of a modernist building, suggesting the plight of the urban poor left behind by the growing city.
  
  
  Title
  The Piper
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1953
  
  Artist
  Hughie Lee-Smith
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1915 - 1999
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  American
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on composition board
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 22 × 35 1/4 inches (55.9 × 89.5 cm)
  Framed: 25 5/8 × 39 3/4 × 2 3/4 inches (65.1 × 101 × 7 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  African American Art
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley J. Winkelman
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  66.391
  
  
  Copyright
  © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
