Kay Smith, painter of American historic sites, dies at 101

Chicago Tribune

17-02-2025

Kay Smith illustrated cookbooks and children's books before gaining a reputation for her watercolor paintings of historic landmarks that led to what she called her 'American Legacy' collection.
Smith, who taught painting at the Old Town Triangle Association for two decades, was named Artist Laureate of Illinois in 1994. Her work was displayed in the state of Illinois' executive mansion, the Three Arts Club of Chicago and the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Missouri.
'She was the most elegant, remarkable woman and artist commissioned to travel to just about every historical location and monument in the United States for a book on American history,' said Reven Fellars, a former student.
Smith, 101, died Feb. 11 of congenital heart failure at her Lincoln Park home, said her daughter, Julia.
Born Albina Kathryn Metzger in her parents' home in downstate Vandalia, Smith grew up on a farm and was educated in a one-room schoolhouse. She moved to Chicago and briefly worked as a secretary while saving money to attend the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, from which she later graduated.
Smith worked as an illustrator for several years for Charles Bracken Studio at 646 N. Michigan Ave., illustrating projects such as cookbooks and children's books. Things changed for her in the early 1960s during a chance encounter in a Merchandise Mart elevator with Thomas Jones, an editor at J.G. Ferguson Publishing Co., which was later sold to Doubleday.
Jones noticed Smith holding a portfolio and asked her about her art. He wound up becoming her manager and mentor, hiring her to illustrate almost 30 books. In 1971, as the U.S. began preparing for the 1976 Bicentennial, Jones was weighing how to illustrate a manuscript that told the story of the Revolutionary War from the perspective of an English soldier. Seeking fresh images rather than stock historic pictures, Jones asked Smith to go to locations from that era and paint them as they would have appeared during the Revolution.
One her first subjects was Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
'I was sure I was going to fail at this job. I just couldn't get it down on paper,' she told the Tribune in 1994.
On her third day, school buses loaded with children came to the site and saw her working on their way into the building and later, on their way out.
One boy took a took a look at her work and said, ' 'Lady, I can't believe this. You're the best part of the day.' ' Smith recalled. 'I think what happened, he had seen it in pencil the first time, and when he came back out, it was color. It was magic. That made me feel good. I thought, 'Well, maybe I'm succeeding.''
The 1973 book, 'A Pictorial History of the American Revolution: An Eyewitness Account,' garnered notice and she went on to illustrate five other historical books. She also painted sites linked to Christopher Columbus in Italy, Portugal and Spain, the relighting ceremonies of the Statue of Liberty in 1986 and the reenactment of the sailing of the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria in 1991 and their return the following year.
The military veterans organization AMVETS commissioned Smith to paint Normandy Beach, the Pointe du Hoc promontory on the coast of Normandy and the Normandy American Cemetery in France, Smith's daughter said, while the publishers of the book 'The Great American Sports Book' tapped Smith to paint Triple Crown winners including Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed at their farms.
Later, the state of Illinois enlisted Smith to paint 21 historic sites. Those workers were exhibited in the executive mansion's ballroom for two months in 1990.
Her works also were displayed in the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Missouri, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Yorktown Victory Center in Yorktown, Va., and the Three Arts Club of Chicago. In 2005, 84 paintings she called the heart of her 'American Legacy' collection went on display at the executive mansion for a year.
Smith always hoped that the entire 'American Legacy' collection, which consisted of more than 250 paintings, might find a permanent home one day.
'The dream? For it to be seen in its entirety,' she told the Tribune in 2005.
Smith was awarded the honor of Artist Laureate in 1994, at a ceremony presided over by then-Gov. Jim Edgar. Recipients are chosen each year by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. 'Gov. Edgar turned and said, 'Kay Smith.' I just sat there and looked at Gov. Edgar,' she told the Tribune. 'He looked at me. I could not move. I just couldn't move.'
'Sometimes people ask me, do you work every day, or do you wait until you're inspired? That question always amazes me,' she told the Tribune in 1994. 'It doesn't matter what's going on, I just go to work. Every day.'
In 1997, Smith was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a malady that makes basic movements — walking, talking, swallowing, smiling — difficult to impossible. Ultimately, Smith resided at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago for seven weeks, and slowly began re-learning basic motions and movements.
'If I have any philosophy from this, it's that there are certain random things that happen in life,' she told the Tribune in 1997. 'You're better off not trying to figure out why. You should just figure out the best way of getting through them in the shortest amount of time.'
Smith retired from teaching at the Old Town Triangle Association at age 90. However, she didn't stop painting until 2024, well past attaining the century mark.
'Students came yes for the instruction, but also to enjoy the charm and humor of her anecdotes,' Fellars said. 'She loved her classes. She especially enjoyed regaling her class with her experience painting (the horse) Secretariat, who liked her so much he ate her hat.'
Smith's husband of 30 years, William, died in 1986. In addition to her daughter, Smith is survived by three grandchildren.
A funeral is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Miller Funeral Home, 831 N. 5th St., Vandalia.