Drawing session with his mother in 1940

     Vincent Smarkusz was enrolled at Hartford Art School in Connecticut when he sketched these images of his mother in the kitchen of their home in New Britain in 1940.  They are similar in technique to his two self-portraits made just before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corp.  He was 21 years of age at the time and his mother was 45.  The first sheet below was done to explore her facial expression, and it's bottomost rendering looks just like a younger Michalina from the 1920's (see Biography page).  The third drawing is actually the same image and size as the middle one, but is rendered in pencil on tracing paper - most likely positioned over the pen-and-ink original to create a structure study, as assigned by one of Vincent's art instructors.

In just a few short months from when the sketches above were made, and to the great concern of his mother, Vincent would drop out of Hartford Art School to enlist in the U.S. Army on his 22nd birthday.