Wallace Herndon Smith ’24

WALLY SMITH died at his home in Ladue, Mo., on Feb. 10, 1990. He was a distinguished artist whose output of oils and watercolors spanned six decades. He prepared at Lawrenceville and attended Princeton where he was well known for his participation in the annual Triangle Club shows, which earned him the reputation of being a fine actor and comedian.

Following graduation he turned down offers from the New York theatrical world in favor of architecture, which he studied first at Princeton, and then at Washington Univ. in St. Louis and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. In the '20s he painted watercolors and in the early 1930s he devoted himself full time to oil painting. He studied under Jerry Farnsworth and Charles Hawthorne in Provincetown, and Thomas Benton and Alexander Brook in New York. From 1932 onwards he was a practicing artist and for the next ten years maintained a studio in Greenwich Village. In 1942, Wally and his wife, Kelsey, moved to St. Louis. From then on he divided his time between studios in Clayton, Mo., and Harbor Springs, Mich. His paintings were exhibited all over the U.S., including the Museum of Modem Art in N.Y., the St. Louis Art Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago. He will always be remembered by his classmates for his endearing efforts to entertain them at Reunions with his enthusiasm, wit, good humor, and with his Triangle songs and dances. He is survived by his wife, Kelsey, his son, Jay, his brother, Robert, and his sister, Katharine Halls. To them we extend our sympathy.