Filmmaker painter anthropologist musicologist and occultistHarry Smith 19231991 was an incomparable polymath and seminal figure in the realms of beat culture and avantgarde art. Smiths kaleidoscopic experimental films have influenced generations of artists and cinephiles while his landmark threevolume compilation the Anthology of American Folk Music 1952 laid the foundation for the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s. In addition to his ecstatic artwork Smith is renowned for his vast collections of curious objects. The Collections of Harry Smith Catalogue Raisonn series spotlights and indexes his eclectic research obsessions. Volume one features richly detailed photographic documentation of 251 paper airplanes gathered by Smith from the streets of New York City over an approximately 20year period. Whimsical and weird the paper airplanes rank among Smiths most mysterious collecting pursuits. This extensive compendium presents the fruits of his extraordinary aeronautic pursuit and highlights the tangled history and myths that accompany them. show more