Jeffrey Smart: Paintings and Studies 2002-2003

AUSTRALIAN ART

Exhibition Catalogue pp. 51 #060424

Frank Jeffrey Edson Smart AO (26 July 1921 – 20 June 2013) was an expatriate Australian painter known for his precisionist depictions of urban landscapes that are “full of private jokes and playful allusions”.^[1]

Smart was born and educated in Adelaide where he worked as an Art teacher. After departing for Europe in 1948 he studied in Paris at La Grande Chaumière, and later at the Académie Montmartre under Fernand Léger. He returned to Australia 1951, living in Sydney, and began exhibiting frequently in 1957. In 1963, he moved to Italy. After a successful exhibition in London, he bought a rural property called “Posticcia Nuova” near Arezzo in Tuscany. He resided there with his partner until his death. A major retrospective of his works travelled around Australian art galleries 1999–2000.^[2][3]

Smart is one of Australia’s best known artists with his almost iconic and unique imagery, heavily influenced by various artists and art forms. His stark portrayals of contemporary life, both realistic and absurd, have been the basis of many artistic discussions.^[15] Critics and admirers of Smart’s paintings often debate his subject matter but in interviews Smart has preferred not to discuss his style; “Leaving the interpretation as the prerogative of the individual viewer.”^[16] Smart states that he “paints a picture because he likes the shape”, and when asked why his skies are always so gloomy and smog-laden or why his faces never wear a smile, he claims “I need a dark sky for the composition, because pale blue at the top of a frame looks nothing … [and] because a smiling face is too hard to paint”.^[16]