Putting ordinary people in odd, unsettling surroundings was the specialty of Hughie Lee-Smith. In today’s episode we look at his “Confrontation” from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

We’’ll find out how an encounter with Italian Surrealism and a forbidden childhood carnival forged a visual language he used to depict universal feelings of loneliness, separation, and alienation in post-war America.

Content produced by: A Long Look