Life and Work
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 canvass was runner up for the Archibald Prize. In 1956 Smith had his work shown in the Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, during the "Direction" 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.
Smith's 3rd winning 1981 portraiture of the Archibald Prize caused a controversy amongst the art world. In 1975 John Bloomfield 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 Rudy Komon resembled a photograph taken of the subject in 1974 and hence in breach of the competitions requirements. Bloomfield threatened legal action to prevent the prize being awarded to Smith. The controversy subsided when gallery director /art dealer Komon came to the defense of Smith and said he had sat for Smith many times over the previous twenty-one years.
Read more about this topic: Eric Smith (artist)
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