David Smith, R.E. (English) 1920 – 1999
Waterloo Bridge, mixed media, signed/dated 1973, 11″ x 16″, unframed
Estimate: $450. Offers invited.
Please email an offer to purchase or a request for more information to thistlefineart.info@gmail.com.
Very good condition. It appears to have never been framed and was purchased with an unframed gouache of a Japanese waterfall. I bought them about twenty years ago; my research revealed the artists bio, but not much more. Today, however, his work is being recognized and a lot of his art has appeared at auction, especially during 2013-14. His work was high quality and represented a broad spectrum of subjects executed in most art mediums. Had his name been anything but Smith, he might have acheived even greater recoginition!
David Smith was a painter using a richly Expressionist palette [the listing here is an exception; the Japanese waterfall more typical of his work], draughtsman, printmaker and teacher, born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, where he attended the Technical School, also Lowestoft and Norwich Schools of Art. From 1939-40 Smith was visiting art master at Framlingham College, then he served in Royal Air Force, 1940-45; a collection of his Air Force pictures toured the country in aid of a Forces’ charity, finishing at Cooling Gallery, opened by Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader. After the war Smith studied at Slade School of Fine Art, winning the Abbey Major Rome Scholarship at the British School, Rome, 1949. Further teaching included senior lecturer in Fine Art at the Chelsea School of Art, 1965-79. Smith was elected RE in 1951, also showing at the RA, LG, New Art Centre and elsewhere. He had over 60 solo shows in Britain and abroad. There was a retrospective at Evesham Arts Festival, 1990; a major show at Sogo Art Gallery , Yokohama, Japan, 1991 ; and a retrospective at Bankside Gallery, 1996. Smith sold well in Japan, where he painted all the major harbours. He was official artist to the British Antarctic Survey, 1975- 76, and with a second voyage in 1979-80. In 1982-84 he was invited by Trinity House to record the lighthouses of England and Wales. He illustrated Richard Woodman’s book View from the Sea and Anthony Fogg’s The Discovery of Antarctica. HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, Barclays Bank and many other corporate and private collections hold examples of the artists work, as well as public galleries in Blackpool, Lincoln, Portsmouth, Sheffield and elsewhere. Lived in London. – Source: Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945 by David Buckman
Also by this artist:
Church Bay one of a series of drawing made daily on the voyage of R.R.S Bransfield to Antarctica and back.
Exhibited “London Artists” at Shrewsbury, June 1969
Gouache on paper
Images often do not adequately represent quality or condition. Reflections off glass or varnished surfaces sometimes alter color and clarity. All listings are fully guaranteed to be as described, however, and may be returned for a full refund (for any reason) within 30 days of purchase.
Purchase prices are inclusive of shipping/handling/insurance within the continental United States. Prospective buyers should email for shipment to other locations.
