Queer and Immigrant Artists Reclaimed: U-M Exhibition Spotlights Carmen Herrera and Leon Polk Smith

University of Michigan exhibition celebrates Carmen Herrera and Leon Polk Smith, artists who defied the margins

LPS Seven Involvements Correspondence Recto — Leon Polk Smith, "Six Involvements in One," 1966, acrylic on canvas mounted on wood panel. Photo: Lisson Gallery/Leon Polk Smith Foundation

Published: August 15, 2025 | Last Updated: August 20, 2025

Carmen Herrera and Leon Polk Smith had a lot in common. They were neighbors. They were artists. They were pioneers in the geometric abstraction movement.

And both struggled for the recognition their work deserved because of their identities.

Now the work of the two friends and colleagues will be on display at the University of Michigan Museum of Art from Aug. 30 to Jan. 4 in an exhibition titled “Both Sides of the Line: Carmen Herrera and Leon Polk Smith,” curated by Dana Miller.

It’s the first major exhibition which shows their works jointly, though Miller said they both had items in a small show together in 1975 in a harpsichord factory. That exhibition had three works by Smith and one by Herrera.

Smith, a gay artist of Cherokee heritage, was born in 1906 in Indian Territory, a year before Oklahoma became a state. Inspired by his heritage and artists like Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, he used geometry and space in a way that became the foundation of the Hard-Edge Movement. By the time he died in 1996, he was a recognized artist whose work was in many major museums.

The two artists met in 1964 where they became friends and confidants, frequently championing each other’s work, according to The Leon Polk Smith Foundation website.

Meanwhile, Herrera, born in 1915, was a Cuban immigrant who developed her art in Cuba and Paris before moving to New York. While she studied architecture and wove that training into her work, she did not receive recognition for her artistic talent until late in life. By the time she died at the age of 106 in 2022, her work was selling for millions of dollars.

Miller is one of the foremost experts on Herrera, having researched her extensively and collaborated with her on exhibitions during the later years of the artist’s life. So when U-M approached her about a major gift from a donor — including works by both Herrera and Smith — she was eager to take on the challenge.

LPS Okie 1957 — Leon Polk Smith, "Okie", 1957, oil on canvas. Photo: Lisson Gallery/Mark Waldhauser/Leon Polk Smith Foundation

The title of the show was taken from a 1964 quote by Smith: “I am not just drawing one form; I am drawing two forms with one line, and I am having to think of both sides of the line, feel both sides, know both sides and one side is no more important to me than the other.”

Miller was drawn to Smith’s approach to space, which echoes how both artists described the act of drawing a line as the starting point for all their work.

Much of the conversation around Smith, Miller said, focuses on his Oklahoma roots — the vast landscapes and open skies. While that influence is undeniable, she believes there’s more beneath the surface.

“When you look more deeply at his works and the way he speaks about his work from the ’60s on when he’s in New York, when he and Carmen Herrera are neighbors on 19th Street, you see that he’s interested in the notions of space and architecture and all kinds of urban environmental influences.”

She draws parallels to Herrera, an artist for whom the conventions of architecture were very important. An interest in architectural urban spaces — built environments — were common to both artists.

The exhibition explores how the two artists advanced modern art by redefining its visual language, while also centering identity, abstraction and their friendship. Miller said they bonded over their outsider status in the art world, though Smith achieved recognition earlier in his lifetime, while Herrera’s acclaim came later. “They both felt that they were overlooked,” Miller said. “They both felt that the art world could be quite xenophobic and misogynist.”

Societal prejudices and expectations worked against both of them, particularly Herrera, according to Miller. “Carmen was of a generation where women were not taught to be professionally ambitious and to self promote. She tried her hand at finding a gallery and promoting herself and it did not go well. Leon Polk Smith had a little more leeway or permission to self promote and license to be ambitious as an artist.”

Still, Miller said, both believed their art was part of a universal language — something that could be understood by anyone, regardless of the identity of the maker or the viewer.

CH Equation 058 — Carmen Herrera, "Equation," 1958, acrylic on canvas. Photo: Lisson Gallery/Estate of Carmen Herrera

With an exhibition featuring two artists, Miller said they decided to produce two catalogs — identical inside, but with a different artist on each cover. The pairing of the two works, which alternate as front and back covers, speaks volumes about both of their careers.

Both use a limited color palette and embrace abstraction. Smith’s work explores curvature and sensuous contour, while Herrera draws on her architectural training to create precise shapes and compositions built from straight lines.

One Herrera work featured is from 1958, a black-and-white painting called “Equation.”

“It’s almost like a Rosetta Stone where you see this work and you can understand almost everything else that she made after,” Miller said. “It’s just so simple and perfect. It’s black and white and she makes the entire composition by drawing five lines. She creates a composition of triangles within rectangles. It’s emblematic of her use of the straight line.”

Miller compares this to Smith’s 1957 circular work, “Okie,” also featured in the exhibit.

“It’s similar in that the actual composition is made by just drawing a couple of lines and then putting paint within those contours,” Miller said. “But for him, it’s about the curved line and the curved line on a circular canvas. You have these two emblematic works and they set the tone for both artists and were made within a year of one another.”

Both artists lived and worked on both sides of many lines — cultural, personal and artistic. They expanded what abstraction could mean while insisting that their work transcended labels.

For visitors, the exhibition offers a glimpse into two remarkable careers while issuing an invitation to stand at that shared line, seeing the world as they did — balanced between form and space, history and innovation, individuality and universality.