Paul Smith's Remarkable Typewriter Art

Paul Smith's Remarkable Typewriter Art

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Trains! — Part 1 of 2

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A busy train track was apparently not far from Paul’s childhood home and trains seemed to have made a big impression on him. Paul made many train pictures over the course of his life. The examples below are in no particular order though it is easy to see the evolution of his technique over the years.

Engine Number 3.

Detail from the image above. The 3 on the front of the engine was made by Paul using parentheses, giving it a three-dimensional quality.

Paul used the 3 key on the typewriter for the numbers on the side of the engine and coal car.

Paul began adding color around 1940 by using red typewriter ribbons. These ribbons were on the market for accounting purposes — to help differentiate between values “in the black” versus those “in the red”.

What was apparently Paul’s home address appears on this picture which he made at the age of 19. It reads 135 S. Chester Pike. This may have been in Glenolden, part of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

An even earlier picture of a train by Paul. He would have been 18 when making this one.

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Paul Smith, the artist who used a typewriter to create the pictures shown in this website, was born in Philadelphia on September 21, 1921.














Although severe cerebral palsy kept him out of school, it didn't prevent Paul from having a remarkable life.












Never having a chance as a child to receive a formal education, Paul taught himself to become a master artist as well as a terrific chess player.
















With much humility and a charming, self-depreciating sense of humor, he became a man who excelled at making the lives of those around him much richer.























Paul spoke of his family and of his upbringing in very affectionate terms. He often recalled boating trips on the Delaware River and, later, to Bermuda. It's no surprise that he made a couple dozen pictures of boats and ships.











As a young adult, Paul moved with his parents to Hollywood, Florida where he lived until they passed away.











His incredible visualization and calculation skills helped to make him a formidable chess player. Paul would stop doing just about anything else when he had a chance to play a game!



When typing, Paul used his left hand to steady his right one.


Since he couldn't press two keys at the same time, he almost always locked the shift key down and made his pictures using the symbols at the top of the number keys.







Across seven decades, Paul created hundreds of pictures. He often gave the originals away. Sometimes, but not always, he kept or received a copy for his own records.



















As his mastery of the typewriter grew, he developed techniques to create shadings, colors, and textures that made his work resemble pencil or charcoal drawings.













By repeatedly pressing the typewriter ribbon and moving the paper in small steps, Paul created shaded parts of his pictures.














It's fascinating to see how Paul gradually refined his use of perspective and coloring, and how his subject matter reflected the events and personalities of the times.

In his early 80s, Paul stopped making his typewriter art, primarily because of vision problems. As was his style, he moved on in a matter-of-fact way.

From 1967 until his passing on June 25, 2007, Paul lived at Rose Haven Nursing Center in Roseburg, Oregon, USA.

He was, and is, an inspiration for all fortunate to have known him.

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