Eric John Smith (5 August 1919 – 20 February 2017) was an award-winning

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n artist. Smith won many of Australia's major art prizes multiple times including the

Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...

for portraiture three times; the

Wynne Prize The Wynne Prize is an Australian landscape painting or figure sculpture art prize. As one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, it was established in 1897 from the bequest of Richard Wynne. Now held concurrently with the Sir John Sulman Prize ...

twice; the

Sulman Prize The Sir John Sulman Prize is one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, having been established in 1936. It is now held concurrently with the Archibald Prize, Australia's best-known art prize, and also with the Wynne Prize, at the Art Gallery ...

three times; and the

Blake Prize for Religious Art The Blake Prize, formerly the Blake Prize for Religious Art, is an Australian art prize awarded for art that explores spirituality. Since the inaugural prize in 1951, the prize was awarded annually from 1951 to 2015, and since 2016 has been a ...

six times.

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 The Victorian Artists Society, which can trace its establishment to 1856 in Melbourne, promotes artistic education, art classes and gallery hire exhibition in Australia. It was formed in March 1888 when the Victorian Academy of Arts (previously V ...

. In 1940 Smith joined the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...

for the remainder of the ''

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

''. 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

. In 1956 Smith had his work shown in the

Macquarie Galleries Macquarie Galleries was a Sydney private art gallery established in 1925 by John Henry Young and Basil Burdett. It was located at "Strathkyle", 19 Bligh Street Sydney then moved to 40 King Street in 1945. From 1991 to 1993 it was located at ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, 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 Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

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

caused a controversy within the art world. In 1975 John Bloomfield's winning entry was disqualified due to his portraiture of

Tim Burstall Timothy Burstall AM (20 April 1927 – 19 April 2004) was an English Australian film director, writer and producer, best known for hit Australian movie ''Alvin Purple'' (1973) and its sequel ''Alvin Rides Again''. Burstall's films featured ea ...

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 Rudolph John Komon MBE (21 June 190827 October 1982) was a Viennese-born Czech-Australian art dealer, gallery director, benefactor and wine connoisseur. He had a great influence on the burgeoning artistic life of Australia in the 1950s and 1960s. ...

resembled a photograph taken of the subject in 1974 and hence in breach of the competition's requirements. Bloomfield threatened legal action to prevent the prize being awarded to Smith. The controversy subsided when gallery director/art dealer Komon came to Smith's defence and said he had sat for Smith many times over the previous twenty-one years.

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

Notes

References

Eric Smith, Australian Artist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Eric 1919 births 2017 deaths Archibald Prize winners 20th-century Australian painters Artists from Melbourne Australian Army personnel of World War II Wynne Prize winners Blake Prize for Religious Art winners Australian portrait painters Military personnel from Melbourne People from Brunswick, Victoria