BRITISH COLUMBIA ARTISTS  

Josiah Howard Smith

October 13 1860 - March 7 1941

B.C. Society of Fine Arts



Josiah Howard Smith and wife Amy Chase
Courtesy of Chase & District Museum and Archives

Josiah Howard Smith was born in Plum River, Illinois, also referred to as Pleasant Valley. He was widely travelled, and is known to have visited or lived in Illinois, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Paris (France), and Germany, as well as Chase and Vancouver, British Columbia. According to Jim Cooperman, Smith studied art in Chicago, then worked as a comic illustrator in New York, moved to Paris to study art for two years, and in 1889 had an assignment to Montana "where he worked alongside the famous Charles Russell." His first visit to Vancouver in the mid-1880s was made on horseback from the eastern USA.

"The ranch at Shuswap lake situated in a beautiful country of mountains and lakes, game and fish galore was an ideal location for a man who loves the outdoors in 1888 when I first saw it was a good cattle country but when I returned to it in 1908 there was a stinking little lumber town on part of it and a sawmill and the hills were full of homesteaders that poached on the Chase herd of cattle and the tough lumber town was not a good place to raise children, at least both Amy and myself thought so. She finally sold her part of the home ranch and Vancouver is a right likely place to spend the money."
From JOSIAH HOWARD SMITH LETTER courtesy Webster Family collection


Portrait of Frederick Webster by Josiah Howard Smith, 1901
Collection Ocean County Historical Society, New Jersey
Courtesy Webster Family collection

From at least 1893 to 1901 numerous Smith cartoons were published in JUDGE magazine, a weekly satirical publication based in New York. It was founded in 1881 and continued publication until 1947. It was owned from the mid 1880s by William J. Arkell, a wealthy Republican who lured illustrators away from PUCK magazine. Under his ownership it did well and in 1900 had a circulation of 100,000. Smith's humorous illustrations were almost entirely based on characters from the Old West, real or imagined, and he "sure knew how" to draw horses.

His drawings of characters from the "old West" still ring true 130 years later, their names are echoes from the past: Alkali Ike, Arizona Al, Bronco Bill, Calamity Joe, Crazy Calkins, Deadwood Dick, Grizzly Pete, Hurricane Bill, Lariat Luke, Lasso Pete, Long Jim, Monte Mose, Old Pike, Young Pike, One-Eyed Ike, Prairie Pete, Rancho Bill, Siwash Joe, Syracuse Sam, Wild Jack.

More civilized visitors from the east were called Doctor Futtnett, Miss Gushington, Mrs. Stoneage, Plankington, and Witherby, for example.

Other references noted that Smith provided illustrations for JUDGE and LIFE magazines in the USA "for fifteen years", and later for The World and the Daily Province newspapers in Vancouver.

His signatures for the illustrations in JUDGE, for example, are typically quite discrete, ranging from a small J-S (representing J H S) to JHSmith in various script forms. The H is always just a dash between the J and the S. Work is usually signed lower left or lower right, and may overlap the actual image linework.


Published in JUDGE magazine July 8 1893


Published in JUDGE magazine July 29 1893



Published in JUDGE magazine July 29 1893
Artist monogram JHS is on the end of the wooden barrel


Published in JUDGE magazine March 31 1894


Published in JUDGE magazine April 14 1894


Published in JUDGE magazine February 9 1901


Published in JUDGE magazine February 16 1901


Published in JUDGE magazine July 6 1901


Published in JUDGE magazine July 20 1901


Published in JUDGE magazine August 3 1901


Published in JUDGE magazine October 5 1901

On April 25, 1907, Smith married Amy Jane Chase in Kane, Illinois. Amy Chase was born December 1876 in Chase, B.C., a town that was later named after her father Whitfield Chase, who had settled in the Shuswap area in the 1850s. Whitfield Chase was Howard Smith's uncle, and his daughter Amy was Smith's first cousin. The couple had four children, three of whom died young. One child apparently died after eating Smith's oil paints. Amy passed away on May 20, 1933 in Vancouver.


Clegg's Harness Shop, Chase BC, c1911
Courtesy of Chase & District Museum and Archives

The photograph of Clegg's Harness Shop shows a large Smith painting mounted on the front of the store, much like a modern billboard. Smith apparently made paintings like this on the burlap back side of sheets of linoleum flooring. This particular painting was re-discovered during a 1950s renovation, where it had been laid image side down on the floor. It was restored, but finally destroyed in an arson attack.


(breaking a horse), c1911
Courtesy of Chase & District Museum and Archives

     "As the town of Chase grew rapidly after the massive Adams River Sawmill began production, his artwork became a source of pride for the community. Nearly every store and office displayed one of his paintings, which for the most part were of Western scenes and featured horses. To save money, many of Smith’s paintings were done on the canvas backing of linoleum. The largest ones were the murals that adorned the walls of the Black Douglas Opera House, which later became the Royal Canadian Legion building until it burned down in 1958.
     Some of his most appreciated works were the cartoons and illustrations he did for the Chase Tribune. Drawn with a whimsical, carefree style, these drawings reveal Smith’s passion and humour, especially the caricatures of local residents, politicians and businessmen. His drawings were also used for advertisements, including one for Celista pioneer Harry Fowler’s boat manufacturing business."
From HOWARD SMITH - CHASE'S COWBOY ARTIST by Jim Cooperman

In 1912 Smith was involved in the creation of "The Limit," described as "a new publication that has found its way to this office, ... a publication after the style of Life and Judge, two of the funny papers of America ... " (continues, see Clippings). It was published in Collingwood East, now a Vancouver neighbourhood, but did not apparently last long. This publication may be the "comic paper" that Smith refers to in his letter to Webster. At this point no copies of the publication have been located by the Editor.

Smith moved to Vancouver around 1916, when his name appears in the Vancouver City directory. He exhibited artwork in the 1916 and 1917 annual exhibitions of the B.C. Society of Fine Arts. More exhibited artworks might be discovered in the missing 1918 and 1919 group exhibition catalogues. Smith became Art Director for the Callopy-Holland Advertising Company Ltd. around 1917. The company put on a solo exhibition of "several of his beautiful paintings" in their office in 1917. Unfortunately the company was liquidated in September 1918.


Published in Vancouver Province February 17 1917


Published in Vancouver Province February 24 1917


Smith illustration, published in Vancouver Province February 24 1917

"After you left us I was in New York a year and while back home on a visit Amy who was visiting at home on the ranch at Shuswap Lakes wrote me that her brother, manager of the ranch, had died and asked me to come up and help settle up the estate. Any way I went up there and was at the ranch for several years until we finally devided (sic) it up among the six remaining heirs and I landed in Vancouver and started a so-called Comic paper. Then came the slump which generally follows a boom and I dropped the paper before it put me on the rods. I have been painting pictures ever since mostly “Wild West” subjects and sell principally in San Francisco and other California towns. But prices these days are nothing startling for size and the income tax never bothers me. In fact I am only a few jumps ahead of the tax auction and a mortgage company, but as John Vanderheyden used to say when he lost a horse race “Tell the boys I feel good about it.” "
From JOSIAH HOWARD SMITH LETTER courtesy Webster Family collection

Four pen and ink illustrations by Smith were published in The Gold Stripe, Volume One, printed just before Christmas 1918, titled A British Columbia Landscape, Grandfather's Dream - and It Came True, (the land our boys fought for), and A Memory of Old London.


Mr. Pickwick "After Frank Reynolds"

Listings for Smith in Provincial and City Directories:

1916 "SMITH J Howard artist h 375 Aberdeen"
1917 "SMITH J Howard artist h 375 Aberdeen"
1918 "SMITH J Howard art dir Callopy-Holland Adv Co h 375 Aberdeen"
1919 "SMITH J Howard art studio 2882 Vanness h 375 Aberdeen."
1920 "SMITH Howard artist r 1609 St Andrews (N Van)" (possibly the artist)
1921 "SMITH J Howard artist 2882 Vanness h 2880 same"
1922 "SMITH J Howard artist 2882 Vanness h 2880 same"
1923 "SMITH J Howard artist 2882 Vanness h 2880 same"
1924 "SMITH J Howard artist 2880 Vanness"
1925 (not listed by name, listing for 2880 Vanness was "Smith J H" and 2882 was "Vacant")
1926 "SMITH J Howard coml artist 2882 Vanness h 2880 same"
1927 "SMITH Josiah H artist 2880 Vanness h 2880 same"
1928 "SMITH Jos H artist h 2880 Vanness"
1929 "SMITH J Howard artist 2882 Vanness h 2880 same"
1930 "SMITH J Howard artist 3536 Vanness h 5325 Aberdeen"
1931 "SMITH Josiah H artist 3536 Vanness h 5325 Aberdeen"
1932 "SMITH Josiah H artist 3536 Vanness h 5325 Aberdeen"
1935 "SMITH J Howard artist h 5325 Aberdeen"
1939 "SMITH J Howard artist 3536 Vanness h 5325 Aberdeen"
1940 no entry found in name listings; F. Bailey resident at 5325 Aberdeen.
1940 entry in address listings: "3536 Vanness *Smith J H artist"
1941 no entry found in name listings; F. Bailey resident at 5325 Aberdeen.
1941 entry in address listings: "3536 Vanness *Smith J H artist"
1942 entry in address listings: "3536 Vanness *Ross, D.W." (Donald Whitfield Ross, Smith's son-in-law)

Note: the " * " asterisk before Smith and Ross's names indicates that to "the best knowledge of the Directory's editors" the building at the listed address was owned by the person listed at that address.

In 1926 a series of cartoons by Smith were published in the Vancouver Daily Province.


Vancouver Daily Province August 6 1926


Vancouver Daily Province August 9 1926


Vancouver Daily Province August 11 1926

In 1926 Smith contributed nine pen and ink drawings to the limited edition publication Chinook Days, by Tom McInnes. The drawings included The Lions, page 75; The Devil's Leap from Grouse Mountain Plateau, page 90; The Old Pack Trail Up Grouse Mountain, page 94; Silver Cascade, below Devil's Leap, page 100; and other early scenes of the coast. Captain McLean was apparently the role model for the Captain in Jack London's novel The Sea Wolf.

Tom McInnes was a well-known personality in British Columbia. He was an "old hand" on the coast, and in addition to writing and publishing Chinook Days, he also wrote Roundabout Rhymes, and published a book about why the colonists in B.C. should continue to exclude Asians from settling here. He also served on the Bering Strait Commission to determine country and fishing boundaries in that area.

He had work in the 1932 and 1936 annual B.C. Artists exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery.

On July 17 1937 Smith's daughter Mary Virginia Smith married Donald Whitfield Ross in Vancouver. He was 27, she was 23. Both of them were born in Chase, and were first cousins. Interestingly, the marriage ceremony was performed by Rev. Andrew Roddan, a well-known United Church Minister and amateur artist.

"And it was (a) grand ranch in its day but the times following the C.P. Railroad spoiled it so that’s that. I find myself enjoying life here in what people call my old age, without much property to speak of, if anything, better than I ever did before. Health is the main thing. If a man can keep that, to limbo with the money! Anyway according to Bible prophesy we are in the “Last Days” and after the big smash up we may be able to pass the exam and get a Chance under the “new government wherein dwelleth righteousness” ... I hope to hear from you again when the signs are right for a letter, H.S."
From JOSIAH HOWARD SMITH LETTER courtesy Webster Family collection

Smith died in Vancouver in 1941 at the age of 80, survived by one daughter, a son-in-law, and a grand-daughter.


SOLO EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION LOCATION
1917 February Paintings Callopy-Holland offices, 436 W. Hastings

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DATE EXHIBITION ARTWORK
1916 September BCSFA   Annual Exhibition Cossacks in Action
1917 Sept. 14 - 22 BCSFA   Eleventh Exhibition In The Surf
1932 Oct. 5 - 30 VAG   B.C. Artists 1st Annual A Jam in the Pass
1936 Sept. 18 - Oct. 11 VAG   B.C. Artists 5th Annual Lunch Time

References

THE GOLD STRIPE - Volume One
      1918, Christmas. Published by the Amputation Club of B.C., Vancouver
      216 pages (including text, advertisements and photographs)
      Heavily illustrated by many early Vancouver artists, including Smith.

CHINOOK DAYS, by Tom McInnes (author of Roundabout Rhymes)
      1926; illustrated by Josiah Smith (9 drawings) and John Innes (2 drawings).
      1,000 copies printed for the opening of Grouse Mountain Highway and Scenic Resort.
      An excellent collection of pen and ink drawings by Smith.

EARLY PAINTERS AND ENGRAVERS IN CANADA (refer to H70)
Entry for Smith:
      SMITH, J.H. (1861 U.S. – 1941)
      Illustrator and cartoonist. Also painted in oil.
      To B.C. sometime after 1890. Subject matter recalls Old West
      Comm. Mrs. Keir (“information communicated by”)

ARTISTS IN CANADA 1982 - UNION LIST OF ARTISTS' FILES (refer to AIC82)
      Lists one artist file at Vancouver Public Library

BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF ARTISTS IN CANADA (refer to BIAC03)
4 references cited for Smith (with incorrect first name of Jerome):
      AAW1 (Artists of the American West, Volume 1)
      H2 (Harper)
      Sam (Illustrated biographical encyclopedia of artists of the American West)
      WECa (The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons)

CITY & PROVINCIAL DIRECTORIES 1916-1942 (refer to DIR)

B.C. VITAL STATISTICS ON-LINE death (no certificate); daughter's marriage (certificate); wife's death (no certificate) (refer to BCVS)

HOWARD SMITH - CHASE'S COWBOY ARTIST by Jim Cooperman
      https://shuswappassion.ca/history/howard-smith-chases-cowboy-artist/
      This web page contains a lot of information about Smith, including a number of Smith's artworks and a photograph of Smith and his wife Amy Chase.

JOSIAH HOWARD SMITH LETTER to Frederick Webster (dated between 1933 and 1941)
      Many thanks to Carol Finkelstein, New Jersey, for sending scans in Feb. 2025 of a very interesting letter in which Smith describes some of his life.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON THE SMITH FAMILY
      Familysearch.org was used to find information on Smith's ancestors.

HATHI TRUST online: THE JUDGE, New York N.Y.: Judge Publishing Company (1881 - 1947)
      Julio Mario Santo Domingo Collection
      https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000056566/Home
      This online archive has posted early issues of The Judge, which include a large number of illustrations by Smith in both black & white and colour.

Clippings

" "The Limit," a new publication that has found its way to this office, is a publication after the style of Life and Judge, two of the funny papers of America, and its entrance to a field in British Columbia, until now unfilled, will be hailed with delight by the thousands of readers, who welcome a little spice to season the sober, serious reading of the average daily and weekly newspaper. The first issue was very creditable to the publishers, Messrs. Smith and Bohannan, and the news of the week was very well illustrated with good clear cuts. Mr. J. Howard Smith, who is at the head of the art department, is a Canadian. He is of the old school of artists and illustrators - Remington, Gibson, Frost and Flagg, and for fifteen years he held important positions on the art staffs of Life and Judge. The Limit is published at Collingwood East, Vancouver, B.C."
      The Chilliwack Progress, October 2 1912

"In his "Cossacks in Action" Mr. J.H. Smith indicates that he might go to the front as an artist-correspondent for one of the pictorial journals - he is better than many of them."
      From "With The B.C. Artists" by "A Visitor"
      Vancouver Province, September 27 1916

"On Thursday evening in the Press Club Rooms, the Ad Club held its semi-monthly meeting. The prize offered by President Frank Parsons for the best emblem was won by Mr. J. H. Smith, art director of the Callopy Holland Advertising Co., Ltd. ... (continues) "
      From "To Take Part in Entertaining Seattle Visitors"
      Vancouver Daily World, July 20 1917

""The Athens of South Vancouver." Really Collingwood seems to be earning that title. The Art of the municipality is gravitating towards Collingwood and giving that place quite a reputation. Mr. Ivor Williams, the clever artist, is a resident of Collingwood. So is Mr. Josiah Smith, whose fine cartoons have, several times, appeared in The World."
      From "The World's Window"
      Vancouver Daily World, August 21 1919

"Final rites for Josiah Howard Smith, 80, of 3536 Vanness, who died in General Hospital on Friday, were conducted in Roselawn Funeral Chapel today. Interment took place in Ocean View burial park. ... (continues) "
      From "Last Rites Held For City Artist"
      Vancouver Province, March 10 1941

"Funeral services for Josiah Howard Smith, 80, pioneer artist and former Vancouver newspaper cartoonist, who died in hospital Friday, were conducted in Roselawn Funeral Chapel on Monday; burial, Mountain View cemetery. ... (continues) "
      From "Josiah Howard Smith"
      Vancouver Sun, March 11 1941


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