Paul Smith (artist)

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Paul Smith (born September 21, 1921 in Philadelphia , † June 25, 2007 in Roseburg ) was an American artist . He is considered a pioneer of ASCII art , as he made hundreds of pictures on his typewriter , thus creating Typewriter Art .

Life

Smith was born with cerebral spasticity , so as a child he always needed the help of other people. Despite this muscle disease, which prevented him from making precise movements with his hands, he learned to play chess, letting helpers make the moves. Through the game of chess, Smith later reached higher social circles. He was considered a good player, but no games are recorded.

At the beginning of the 20th century, people with disabilities such as spasticity were not admitted to public schools at Smith's place of residence, which is why Smith was also excluded from school. Although he could neither read nor write this way, he began to use a typewriter to make pictures. The typewriter mechanism always produced the desired symbol, no matter how long a key was pressed or how little Smith's muscles could be controlled. When using colored ink, Smith noticed that he could smear it with his fingers; He then also used this technique for pictures. Due to the limitations of the typewriter, Smith had to plan the result of the images in detail in advance, as he could not correct mistakes.

Smith produced a wide variety of motifs, including portraits of well-known personalities, a Mona Lisa , landscapes, everyday spaces and objects. He often gave away the original pictures and kept a copy most of the time, but not every time.

Smith lived with his family in Philadelphia until the 1940s, when the family moved with him to Hollywood , Florida. He lived there until the death of his parents. From 1967 he lived in the Rose Haven Nursing Center in Roseburg, where he died in 2007.

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personal data
SURNAME Smith, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American artist
DATE OF BIRTH September 21, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia
DATE OF DEATH June 25, 2007
Place of death Roseburg (Oregon)