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Eric Smith (artist)

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Australian artist For other people named Eric Smith, see Eric Smith (disambiguation).

Eric Smith
Eric Smith in 1954.
BornEric John Smith
(1919-08-05)5 August 1919
Brunswick, Melbourne, Australia
Died20 February 2017(2017-02-20) (aged 97)
Sydney, NSW, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Known forPainting

Eric John Smith (5 August 1919 – 20 February 2017) was an Australian artist. Smith won the Archibald Prize for portraiture three times; the Wynne Prize twice; the Sulman Prize three times; and the Blake Prize for Religious Art six times.

Life and work

Roger Pryke painting by Eric Smith

Eric Smith was born and raised in Brunswick, Melbourne. At the age of 17 Smith undertook the study of Commercial Art and Painting at the Brunswick Technical School and joined the Victorian Artists Society. In 1940 Smith joined the Australian Army for the remainder of the Second World War.

Upon the end of the war, Smith returned to Melbourne and pursued his artistic ambitions. In 1945, a self-portrait painted on an army canvas was runner-up for the Archibald Prize. In 1956 Smith had his work shown in the Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, during the 'Direction One' exhibition. The success of this exhibition led to Smith's work being included in the 1963 exhibition of Australian art shown at the Tate Gallery in London. Whilst in London in 1963, Smith gained further international recognition after winning the Helena Rubenstein Art Award. In 1970 Smith won the Archibald again for his portrait of Sydney architect Neville Gruzman. The award announced on 22 January 1971 came 25 years after his second place.

Smith's second winning portrait of art dealer and gallery owner Rudy Komon entered in the 1981 Archibald Prize caused controversy within the art world. In 1975 John Bloomfield's winning entry was disqualified due to his portraiture of Tim Burstall being painted from a photograph. It is a condition of entry that all portraits be painted from life rather than interpretations of photographs. Bloomfield asserted that Smith's portraiture of Komon resembled a photograph taken of the subject in 1974 and hence was in breach of the competition rules. Bloomfield threatened legal action to prevent the prize being awarded to Smith. The controversy subsided when Komon came to Smith's defence and said he had sat for Smith many times over the previous twenty-one years.

In 1982 Smith won the Archibald for the second year in a row and his third time with a portrait of Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe.

Eric Smith was recognised for his contribution to the visual arts with an Australia Council Emeritus Award in 1995.

A total of 13 paintings are in the Art Gallery of NSW collection.

Awards

  • 1944 Australia at War, War on Land Prize
  • 1948 Catholic Centenary Art Prize
  • 1948 CRTS Shell Company Prize
  • 1948 CRTS Norman Bros Prize
  • 1950 Victorian Artists’ Society, ‘60 Drawings’ Herald Prize
  • 1953 Berrima Art Prize (Mural)
  • 1955 Contemporary Art Society
  • 1955 Contemporary Art Society, Madach Prize
  • 1955 Adelaide Advertiser Prize
  • 1956 Bathurst Art Prize
  • 1960 Journalists’ Club Prize
  • 1962 Royal Art Society of New South Wales Easter Show Prize
  • 1963 Helena Rubenstein Art Award
  • 1965 Roy H. Taffs Contemporary Art Society Award
  • 1967 Darcy Morris Memorial Prize
  • 1969 Royal Art Society of New South Wales, Portrait Prize
  • 1975 Muswellbrook Art Prize
Awards
Preceded byCharles Doutney Sulman Prize
1953
for Convicts Berrima 1839,
Mural at Old Court House, Berrima 		Succeeded byWallace Thornton
Preceded byDonald Friend Blake Prize for Religious Art
1956
for The Scourged Christ 		Succeeded byElwyn Lynn
Preceded byElwyn Lynn Blake Prize for Religious Art
1958
for The Moment Christ Died
1959
for Christ is Risen 		Succeeded byJohn Coburn
Preceded byStanislaus Rapotec Blake Prize for Religious Art
1962
for Eucharistic Landscape 		Succeeded byLeonard French
Preceded byRoger Kemp Blake Prize for Religious Art
1969
for The Apostles Creed
1970
Co-winner with Roger Kemp
for Christ's Flesh: Living, Suffering and Resurrected 		Succeeded byDesiderius Orban
Preceded byRay Crooke Archibald Prize
1970
for Gruzman—Architect 		Succeeded byClifton Pugh
Preceded byMargaret Woodward Wynne Prize
1972
for Falling Bark 		Succeeded byClem Millwood
Preceded byPeter Powditch Sulman Prize
1973
for The Painter Transmogrified and Mrs. Smith 		Succeeded byKeith Looby
Preceded byClem Millwood Wynne Prize
1974
for Redfern Landscape 		Succeeded byRobert Juniper
Preceded byNot awarded
(Wes Walters, 1979) 		Archibald Prize
1981
for Rudy Komon
1982
for Peter Sculthorpe 		Succeeded byNigel Thomson
Preceded byGuan Wei Sulman Prize
2003
for Reflection 		Succeeded byAllan Mitelman

Notes

  1. ^ "Biography". Eric Smith, Australian Artist. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
  2. Smith, Eric. "Gruzman — architect, 1970". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  3. Nicklin, Lenore (22 January 2021). "From the Archives, 1971: Archibald winner waited 25 years". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  4. Smith, Eric. "Rudy Komon 1981". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  5. ^ "History: Chronology of events 1900—2007". Art Gallery of New South Wales,Archibald Prize 08. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
  6. Smith, Eric. "Winner: Archibald Prize 1982, Peter Sculthorpe". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  7. Smith, Eric. "Works by Eric John Smith (13)". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 5 June 2023.

References

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