Harry Smith Archives

04/20/2026

If you weren't able to get tickets to the opening night of our series with this Saturday, don't fret! There are many more Harry-centric events to come!

Join us at the Philosophical Research Society for a twofer on Thursday, May 7th!

The evening begins with the exhibition opening of Brain Drawings: The Art of Harry Smith in the Hansell Gallery and finishes with Mind Maps: Exploring Harry Smith’s Hermetic Allusions. The latter will be a riveting panel discussion that focuses on Harry's occult leanings w/ David Orr, William Kiesel, Jessica Hundley, and Chuck Stein.

Tickets are available here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brain-drawings-the-art-of-harry-smith-exhibition-opening-reception-tickets-1987021274120?aff=oddtdtcreator

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mind-maps-exploring-harry-smiths-hermetic-allusions-panel-discussion-tickets-1987020936109?aff=oddtdtcreator

04/10/2026

LOS ANGELES!

OPENING NIGHT SATURDAY APRIL 25!

In collaboration with The Philosophical Research Society, join us for the launch of THE COSMIC COLLAGE OF HARRY SMITH (April 25 – May 31), a multi-venue celebration of the boundless, unruly imagination of artist, filmmaker, folklorist, and self-described alchemist of culture, Harry Everett Smith.

We open on 4/25 with HARRY SMITH’S ALCHEMICAL ABSTRACTIONS — featuring an immersive presentation led by Harry Smith scholar and Harry Smith Archives director Rani Singh, weaving together rare images and footage from Smith’s life and work.

The night culminates in a program of Smith’s films, including rarely seen works such as the UNTITLED SEMINOLE PATCHWORK FILM (1965-1966), archival footage offering a rare glimpse of Smith himself, and EARLY ABSTRACTIONS (1946–1957) presented in full with live musical accompaniment by Devendra Banhart and friends Dory Bavarsky, Griffin Kisner, Dave Longstreth, and John Moods who will perform an original score in dialogue with Smith’s landmark work.

A singular figure of the American avant-garde, Smith moved fluidly between disciplines, assembling a body of work that resists containment—from visionary abstract cinema to his groundbreaking Anthology of American Folk Music. Deeply engaged with mysticism, folklore, and systems of hidden knowledge, Smith approached art as a form of spiritual inquiry—where sound, image, and pattern become tools for re-enchanting the world.

Spanning film screenings, live performances, panels, an exhibition, and more at PRS, The Getty Research Institute, Zebulon, 2220 Arts + Archives, and online, THE COSMIC COLLAGE OF HARRY SMITH traces an expansive creative universe where disciplines dissolve and art becomes a bridge between the material and the unseen.

Full series lineup:

•4/25 — OPENING NIGHT!: Harry Smith’s Alchemical Abstractions featuring EARLY ABSTRACTIONS (1939–56) screening w/ live performance by Devendra Banhart Devendra Banhart & Friends— co-presented by 7th House & Los Angeles Filmforum

•5/7 — Brain Drawings: The Art of Harry Smith— Exhibition Opening at The Philosophical Research Society's Hansell Gallery�

•5/7 — Mind Maps: Exploring Harry Smith’s Hermetic Allusions – Panel Discussion w/ David Orr, William Kiesel, Jessica Hundley, and Chuck Stein

•5/21 — Adam Green Explains Harry Smith + HEAVEN & EARTH MAGIC (1957) screening — Adam Green in person! — co-presented by 7th House & Los Angeles Filmforum

•5/24 — Harry Smith’s Anthology as a Magical Instrument presented by Matt Marble of the American Museum of Paramusicology (Online Presentation)

•5/29 — Show & Tell: Harry Smith Archive at the Research Institute

•5/29 — Celebration of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music at Zebulon

•5/31 — MAHAGONNY (1980) screening at 2220 Arts + Archives — co-presented by 7th House, Los Angeles Filmforum, and 2220 Arts + Archives

Visit prs.org for info & tickets. Tickets for first three events on sale now — full series event listings posting shortly!

(Flyer by Megan Whitmarsh. All Harry Smith images courtesy of Harry Smith Archives.)

10/21/2025

JG Thirwell presented a propulsive, driving score to Harry Smith’s “Heaven and Earth Magic Film,” using electronics, triggered samples and theremin in surround sound. DCP thanks to sharp restoration by 💥💥💥

10/16/2025

This Sunday, October 19th in Los Angeles!
The incredible composer/musician JG Thirwell will be performing a live score to Harry's 1962 stop-motion animation "Heaven and Earch Magic".

Tickets available at the link below!

  JG Thirlwell – Heaven and Earth Magic In 2024 JG Thirlwell was commissioned by L’Etrange Film Festival...

07/12/2025

06/27/2025

Woodstock Artist Cemetery- Saturday 4:00 pm - Interment of the ashes of Harry Smith and Herbert Huncke!! 34 years in the making!! 🌟💥Join us! 💥🌟

Speakers include Raymond Foye, Rani Singh, Ed Sanders and Steven Taylor. Music by The Fugs and Eli Smith and the Down Hill Strugglers.

06/10/2025

P. Adams Sitney (1944-2025), film historian, author of “Visionary Film,” Princeton professor and co-founder of Anthology Film Archives. P. Adam’s set the standard of critical excellence that we will continuously strive towards. 📽️💕🎞️💕🌟 R.I. P. With Haden Guest in September 2024

06/03/2025

Allen Ginsberg”s Original collotype print of Smith’s “Tree of Life” (1954) on auction!! From the collection of Richard Metzger who acquired it from Ginsberg’s estate auction. Auction closes on June 12th. 🌟💥💫⚡️💥

05/29/2025

102 years ago today Harry Everett Smith was born in Portland, OR. Over a century later, his work continues to reverberate and inspire. In honor of this special day, please enjoy this clip of Harry serenading us with the folk tune "A Horse Named Bill". Happy Birthday Harry!

Also, stay tuned for new content coming to www.harrysmitharchives.com in the near future 📚🔜🆒

03/18/2025

Available now: the stunning catalog Fragments of a Faith Forgotten: The Art of Harry Smith accompanies the major exhibition on the art and life of Harry Smith co-organized by The Whitney Museum of American Art and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University. The first publication featuring extensive color illustrations of Smith’s visual art, films, and collections includes new texts by Dorothy Berry, Philip Deloria, John Klacsmann, Andrew Lampert, Kelly Long, Greil Marcus, Rani Singh, Philip Smith, and Elisabeth Sussman.

Link below: 🔗 📕 🖼️

https://secure.touchnet.net/C20832_ustores/web/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCTID=6075&SINGLESTORE=true

03/04/2025

ATTN Swiss family and fans:

On March 6th at Museum Tinguely Basel there is a free event celebrating the book lauch of String Figures: A Cultural Practice Between Art, Anthropology, and Theory!

String figures have been studied as an aesthetic practice, collected as artifacts, and considered as a non-Western way of thinking. Looking at ways of playing together on the ruins of our history, the book brings together these different threads and weaves connections between world regions and disciplines in order to re:search, re:define and re:signify the past and present of a beautiful and complex cultural practice. The book features works by Harry Smith that explore the historical complexity of string figures and contributions by HSA Director Rani Singh, amongst others.

Speakers: Seraina Dür and Jonas Gillmann, Ute Holl, Robyn McKenzie, and Nasser M***i.

https://www.tinguely.ch/en/events/book-launch-string-figures-06-03-2025-18h00.html

03/04/2025

Like many in our community, we would like to pay tribute to the late, great, David Johansen! From the New York Dolls to Buster Poindexter, DJ was always the consummate performer. Later in his career, he fronted David Johansen and the Harry Smiths in which he paid homage to Harry and his Anthology of American Folk Music.

Funny, sharp, and always on point, DJ was always agreeable to sitting for an interview or performing on our behalf. He spoke eloquently about the depth and power of the Anthology's songs in the documentary film "The Old Weird America."

Johansen was a key part of Hal Willner's Harry Smith Project (seen here performing Jim Jackson's "Old Dog Blue), performing in LA, London and New York at the height of the release of the Harry Smiths' two albums (2000 and 2002). His most recent show supporting the HSA was at the Brooklyn Folk Festival in 2023. Rest In Peace David.