Hassel Smith (1915–2007) was a painter and educator whose expressive abstractions helped shape the development of postwar art in Northern California. Born in Sturgis, Michigan, he graduated from Northwestern University in 1936 before studying with Maurice Sterne at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Smith became an influential figure in Bay Area Abstract Expressionism, developing compositions characterized by gestural brushwork, vivid color and dynamic spatial relationships. He taught at the California School of Fine Arts, where his students included Roy De Forest, Sonia Gechtoff and Frank Lobdell. After relocating to England in 1966, he continued exploring both figuration and abstraction, developing his distinctive geometric Measured Paintings. Smith returned to Northern California as a visiting professor at the University of California, Davis, on two occasions between 1973 and 1975, teaching alongside artists including Wayne Thiebaud and William T. Wiley. His work was exhibited at Whitney Museum of American Art, Pasadena Art Museum and Ferus Gallery, and is represented in major American and international museum collections.