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THE SEA COAST ECHO
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Legacy
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Bay St. Louis artist, engineer and Renaissance Man Laurent Smith left hundreds of painted masterpieces behind; now his only son struggles to preserve them.
BY GEOFF BELCHER News Editor
Reclusive, but with strong character, he was a product of the Edwardian era, wearing his pride in high moral standards like a medieval suit of armor."
That's how Bay St. Louis poet and music historian Gary Spencer Smith described his late father Laurent S. Smith - a self-taught draftsman, engineer, artist and all-around Renaissance Man -in the latter's eulogy in 2003.
Clearly, that image of his father still resonates as strongly for the junior Smith as it did while the elder still lived.
"It was incredible, what he could do," Spencer said. "He did teach me, a lot, with a
SATURDAY, MARCH 3,2007 » 17
Oil on canvas of the historic Bay St. Louis City Hall on Second St.
more than a hundred southern landscapes. His subjects included local landmarks like the old L&N Train Depot, Bay St. Louis City Hall and the Hancock County Courthouse, as well as New Orleans neighborhoods and locations from all across the southern U.S. Although prolific, the reclusive Laurent sought no attention and sold very few of his paintings. In a 1996 interview, the then 86-year-old told reporters he was not a creative artist: "I'm an illustrator.
I try to paint as realistically as possible without 3T -jazzing it up."
And he did it for his own enjoyment and enlightenment, until his death on Jan. 5, 2003, at the age of 94.
Spencer now lives in
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