Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith

Anthropologist, folklorist, and "alchemical painter-filmmaker" Harry Smith detested the word “artist” and routinely discarded or destroyed his own work. He was habitually impoverished, frequently intoxicated, and often ill-tempered. He was also one of the rare American visionaries who could keep secrets. John Szwed’s definitive restoration of Harry Smith’s mercurial life and mind shows respect, appreciation, and an admirable unwillingness to whitewash or take sides. As a biography of a brilliant phantom—exasperatingly arcane and even a riddle to those who “knew” him—it is nearly perfect.

2023; hardcover; 6.45 x 9.35 inches; 416 pages; ISBN: 9780374282240.