Jeffrey Smart

{{short description|Australian artist}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Multiple issues| {{More references|date= December 2025}} {{External links|date= December 2025}}}} {{Infobox artist | name = Jeffrey Smart | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100|AO}} | image =Australian_artist_Jeffrey_Smart.jpg | image_size = | alt =Jeffrey Smart | caption =Jeffrey Smart. Photo by [[Michel Lawrence]]. | birth_name = Frank Jeffrey Edson Smart | birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|7|26|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Adelaide]], South Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|6|20|1921|7|26|df=y}} | death_place = [[Montevarchi]], Tuscany, Italy | education = [[Pulteney Grammar School]] [[Unley High School]] [[University of South Australia#South Australian College of Advanced Education|Adelaide Teachers College]] [[South Australian School of Art and Crafts|SA School of Art and Crafts]] | field = Landscape painting | training = | movement = [[Modernism]] | works = | patrons = | influenced by = | influenced = | awards = Commonwealth Jubilee Art Prize (1951) Honorary Doctorate (1999)  Officer of the Order of Australia (2001)  | elected = | website =  | bgcolour = }} '''Frank Jeffrey Edson Smart''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AO}} (26 July 1921 – 20 June 2013) was an expatriate Australian painter known for his [[Precisionism|precisionist]] depictions of urban landscapes that are "full of private jokes and playful allusions".<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/jeffrey-smart-a-modern-australian-master-20140527-391vc.html|title=Jeffrey Smart: A Modern Australian Master|last=McDonald|first=John|date=29 May 2014|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=12 September 2017}}</ref>

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. [[#Selected exhibitions|A major retrospective]] of his works travelled around Australian art galleries 1999–2000.<ref name=retrospective>{{cite book |first1= Edmund |last1= Capon |author-link1= Edmund Capon |first2= Barry |last2= Pearce |first3= Peter |last3= Quartermaine |year= 1999 |title=Jeffrey Smart retrospective |publisher= [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]] |isbn=0-7313-8984-0}}</ref><ref name=retro1/>

==Life== Jeff Smart, as he was generally known for the first thirty years of his life, was born in [[Adelaide]] in 1921.<ref name=etchinghouse>{{cite web |title= About Jeffrey Smart |publisher= etchinghouse.com.au |url= http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/pages/artist_details.php?artist_id=76 }}</ref> He started drawing at an early age. "My parents would give me large sheets of paper, often the backs of posters or calendars ... anything".<ref name=NQS/> He was educated at [[Pulteney Grammar School]] and [[Unley High School]], and originally wanted to become an architect. However, after studying at the Adelaide Teachers College and the [[South Australian School of Art and Crafts]] in 1937–1941,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-21/australian-born-artist-jeffrey-smart-dies-in-italy/4770682 |title=Australian-born artist Jeffrey Smart dies in Italy aged 91 |publisher=ABC News |date=21 June 2013 |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref> he taught art in schools for the South Australian Education Department in 1942–1947.<ref>{{cite news |author=McDonald, Patrick |date=6 October 2012 |url=http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/ipad/jeffrey-smarts-amazing-adelaide/story-fn3o6wog-1226488257595 |title=Jeffrey Smart's amazing Adelaide |work=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]]|location=Adelaide |access-date=21 June 2013}}</ref> In the early 1940s he accompanied local maritime artist, John Giles, in painting industrial landscapes at [[Port Adelaide]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Jenkins, Susan |year=2009 |url=http://www.poant.org/uploads/7/4/9/9/7499352/giles_10pp_exhib_broch_final.pdf |title=Captured on Canvas: John Giles' Port Adelaide 1930–1960 |work=Exhibition catalogue |publisher=[[National Trust of South Australia|Port Adelaide Branch of the National Trust of South Australia]] |access-date=21 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203063338/http://www.poant.org/uploads/7/4/9/9/7499352/giles_10pp_exhib_broch_final.pdf |archive-date=3 December 2013 }}</ref> He joined the [[Royal South Australian Society of Arts]] around 1941<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131982090 |title=Spring Show Now Open |newspaper=[[The News (Adelaide)|The News]] |location=Adelaide |date=11 September 1941 |access-date=9 February 2015 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and was elected vice-president in 1950.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45666044 |title=New Society of Arts President. |newspaper=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]]|location=Adelaide |date=16 November 1950 |access-date=9 February 2015 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Smart travelled to Europe in 1948, studying in Paris at La Grand Chaumière and later the Académie Montmartre under Fernand Léger. "As my technique grew, I found I could paint those things I liked looking at, those slum streets behind the city apartments". In 1950 he lived on the island of [[Ischia]] in the bay of Naples, where he painted with [[Donald Friend]], Michael Shannon and [[Jacqueline Hick]].

In 1951, he moved to Sydney and spent the next 2 years there as an [[List of Australian art critics (news periodicals)|art critic]] for the [[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|''Daily Telegraph'']] newspaper (1952–54), an arts compere called "[[Phidias]]" for the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] children's radio programme ''[[Argonauts Club|The Argonauts]]'', and a drawing teacher at the [[National Art School]] (1956–1962). From 1956 to 1962, he also presented on [[ABC TV (Australian TV channel)|ABC TV]]'s ''Children's Hour''.<ref name=retro1>{{cite web|last=Cullen |first=Max |author-link=Max Cullen |url=http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/art_profiles/article_630.asp?s=1 |title=Jeffrey Smart retrospective on show |publisher=[[Nine Network]] |work=Sunday |date=29 August 1999 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060904173324/http://sunday.ninemsn.com.au/sunday/art_profiles/article_630.asp?s=1 |archive-date=4 September 2006 }}</ref> Smart was also employed by [[The King's School, Parramatta]] from 1954 to 1956 as an art teacher, following [[Jean Bellette]] (known there as [[Paul Haefliger|Mrs Haefliger]]) and [[John Passmore]]. He exhibited throughout this period at the [[Macquarie Galleries]].

Smart departed Australia for London on the ''[[Castel Felice]]'' out of Sydney just after Christmas 1963, driving to Greece with fellow painter [[Justin O'Brien]].<ref>Barry Pearce (2012) Master of Stillness: Jeffrey Smart Paintings 1940–2011 Wakefield Press, {{ISBN|978-1-74305-123-8}}</ref> In 1965 he returned to Italy, and lived there for the rest of his life, regarding himself as an "Australian living abroad" and carrying an Australian passport.<ref name=death>{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/visual-arts/artist-jeffrey-smart-dead-at-91/story-fn9d3avm-1226667303361 |work=The Australian |title=Artist Jeffrey Smart dead at 91 |date=21 June 2013 |access-date=21 June 2013 |author=Wilson, Ashleigh}}</ref> His last work, ''Labyrinth'', was completed in 2011, at which point he announced his retirement.

Smart died of renal failure in Arezzo on 20 June 2013, aged 91.<ref name=death /><ref name="Dow2013">{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/jeffrey-smart-dead-at-91-20130621-2omk1.html |title=Jeffrey Smart dead at 91 |last=Dow |first=Steve |date=21 June 2013 |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |access-date=21 June 2013}}</ref><ref name="SMHobit">{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/obituaries/artist-transformed-symbols-of-modernity-20130621-2on1p.html |title=Obituary: Jeffrey Smart, 1921–2013 |last=Maunder |first=Patricia |date=21 June 2013 |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref>

== Influences and artistic style == Smart's almost iconic and unique imagery was 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.<ref>{{citation |title=Jeffrey Smart: Unspoken |first=Mark |last=Ledbury |year=2011 |publisher=University Art Gallery, [[University of Sydney]] |isbn=978-1-74210-252-8 |url=http://sydney.edu.au/museums/pdfs/Art_Gallery/jeffrey%20smart_unspoken_catalogue.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120192711/http://sydney.edu.au/museums/pdfs/Art_Gallery/jeffrey%20smart_unspoken_catalogue.pdf |archive-date=20 November 2011 }}</ref> 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."<ref name="mcdonald">{{citation |title=Jeffrey Smart: Paintings of the '70s and '80s |first=John |last=McDonald |year=1990 |publisher=Craftsman House |isbn=976-8097-01-9}}</ref> 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".<ref name="mcdonald" />

Smart's unsentimental paintings encompass lonely urban vistas.{{Citation needed|date=September 2007}} Isolated individuals often appear lost in industrial wastelands, high rise construction, or concrete street-scapes. His work balances eeriness with harmony and equilibrium. One title 'The express rape of the landscape', refers to the freeways, street signs, trucks, oil drums, containers, buildings and concrete dividers that are the ever-present subjects of his work.

Figures are present in many of Smart's paintings. These are said to be "impassive observers, reconciled to the contemporary state of things, prepared to accommodate themselves to an increasingly impersonal environment" or as "statements on the dehumanising conformity of modern architecture and social painting". According to Smart however, "the truth is I put figures in mainly for scale". It is Smart's precise and unequalled attention to clean lines, composition and geometrics that make his eye-catching paintings stand-out "in the story of modern Australian art". "The subject matter is only the hinge that opens the door, the hook on which hangs a coat. My only concern is putting the right shapes in the right colours in the right places. It is always the geometry".<ref name="mcdonald" />

Under the tutorship lessons of modernist artist, [[Dorrit Black]], Smart acquainted himself with the '[[Golden ratio|Golden Mean]].' Also referred to as 'the golden ratio', 'the divine proportion', 'the mean of Phidias' and a number of other names, it has been used since ancient Greek times in many works of art and architecture. The golden mean is a geometric proportion, the ratio of which is approximately 1:1.618. This complex network of interlocking rectangles, triangles and diagonal lines, is used to calculate the structure of Smart's paintings, which form the basis of all his artworks. For Smart, geometry and precision of the composition is the key to successful art, much like how comedic timing is the key to the effectiveness of a punch line. "Today's most prevalent myth is that Smart's work has no content: that everything is a compositional exercise devoted to capturing a formal ideal of beauty".<ref name="mcdonald" />

=== Smart's surrealism ===

Smart's paintings have been referred to as 'surreal', but Smart contended that it was the modern urban world that was surreal and not his depictions of it. "I find myself moved by man in his new violent environment. I want to paint this explicitly and beautifully ... only very recently have artists again started to comment on their real surroundings".<ref name="drury">{{citation |title=Images 2: Contemporary Australian Painting |last=Drury |first=Nevill |year=1998 |publisher=Craftsman House |isbn=90-5703-451-4}}</ref>

Some critics{{who|date=June 2013}} have argued that Smart's work comments on modern urban alienation, a [[post-industrial society|post-industrial landscape]] that has fallen from human control. Others have cast him as a realist, hyper-realist, 'off-beat classicalist' and a metaphysical painter. Some critics have even referred to Smart's paintings as portraying 'Orwellian gloom'{{who|date=June 2013}} – a statement referring, in particular, to [[George Orwell]]'s literary political masterpiece, ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''. [[James Gleeson]] believes that Smart's paintings are "too real to be real"; and believes that his realist portrayals of 20th-century life are nothing more than superb geometrical compositions and bold colour, of man in his naturalistic, man-made environment. It is true, for instance, that trees are rarely seen in Jeffrey Smart's artworks, and the only grass is that growing between concrete stones, but as Smart claimed: "an artist has to be moved to move his viewers", and Smart was moved by man in nature – man-made nature – not concerned with typical Australian landscape. "I like living in the 20th century – to me the world has never been more beautiful. I am trying to paint the real world I live in, as beautifully as I can with my own eyes... It's obvious a bunch of flowers or a [[billabong]] is beautiful, and I love natural beauty, but I am not moved by it. ... to me composition is everything". Smart believed that people should view art with their eyes and not their head.

=== Influences === Smart's paintings may seem to visit an untouched area of art, but he has been influenced by other artists and art forms, especially from classical ancient art through his travels. An interest in architecture took Smart to Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Italy and Yemen. This Mediterranean journey led to the purchase of a three-hundred-year-old villa in Arezzo, Italy where he lived for the rest of his long life. It had in fact, always been an early goal for Smart was to become an architect; he was trained as a [[draftsman]] and sometimes considered himself in some ways a frustrated architect.

[[Piero della Francesca]], a [[Renaissance]] painter and mathematician, was one of classical influences on Smart's work.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/smart-jeffrey/|title=Jeffrey Smart|website=AGNSW collection record|publisher=Art Gallery of New South Wales|access-date=12 April 2016}}</ref> Smart said that seeing Piero's works was "like falling in love." His favourite of Piero's paintings was [[Flagellation of Christ (Piero della Francesca)|The Flagellation of Christ]]. He shared with Piero, in addition to the geometrics and composition, the spatial grandeur and 'ineloquence' found present in each of their works. He was also influenced by Renaissance Dutch painter [[Rogier van der Weyden]].<ref name=":0" /> Despite Smart's identification with the ancient art and architecture of the renaissance period, he likes to be recognised as a contemporary artist, not a 'classical revivalist'.

The two modernist realists who have had immense impact on Smart's paintings, are [[Alex Colville]] and [[Edward Hopper]].{{citation needed|date=June 2013}} Like Smart, Hopper painted "Human beings' values being swallowed by 20th century industrial society" and Hopper "shows that, even though communication and transportation have never been so accessible, the individual is somehow left behind in the rush".<ref name="mcdonald" /> In his work, Hopper focuses on "eerily realistic depictions of solitude in contemporary American life", works of similar appearance to Smart's. Like Hopper's, Smart's paintings have been compared to post-war Italian movie stills of the 1950s and sixties – where beauty is poetically captured in the 'humdrum' Italian cities. Alex Colville painted desolate landscape settings with lonely characters, and used much the same geometric underpinning and bold colours.

==Technique==

Smart regarded being able to draw the human being as the single most important attainment of any artist.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}} When asked why none of the people in his pictures are ever painted smiling, he said that he could not draw smiles well. Unlike many primarily landscape artists, he could paint both the human form and the human face, as can be seen in his self-portrait work. He regarded abstract painters as people who never learnt to draw.<ref name="address">{{cite speech |title=Address |author=Smart, Jeffrey |author2=Pearce, Barry |date=September 2005 |location=The Brisbane Institute |type=CD |publisher=Beagle Press }}</ref> Smart mostly painted with oil, acrylic and watercolours, generally using the bold primary colours – yellow, blue and red – and dark greys for his skies. This created an unusual effect in his works as the foregrounds of his paintings are fully lit despite the dark sky. His process of painting was a long and arduous one, resulting in barely a dozen finished canvases a year. "I always do a lot of preliminary drawings, moving the forms, the shadows, the buildings the figures around the canvas till I get that perfect composition ..."{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}

Much of Smart's direct artistic stimulation came from, literally, a passing glance as he was driving: "My paintings have their origins in a passing glance". "Sometimes I'll drive around for months ... despair, nothing, nothing, then suddenly I will see something that seizes me: a shape, a combination of shapes, a play of light or shadows and I send up a prayer because I know I have the gem of a picture."<ref name="hawley">{{citation |title=Encounters with Australian Artists |last=Hawley |first=Janet |publisher=University of Queensland press |year=1993}}</ref>

== Images == Smart was a prolific artist; in the period 1939–1982 he produced at least 800 works,<ref name=Quartermaine1983>{{cite book |first=Peter |last=Quartermaine |year=1983 |title=Jeffrey Smart |publisher=Gryphon Books Pty Ltd |location=South Yarra, Victoria |isbn=0-908131-29-1}}</ref> and was still producing new works in 2011 (at the age of 90). The following is a small selection of Smart's work, arranged in chronological order.

The list also indicates those works in public collections. {{div col}} * AGNSW, Art Gallery of NSW (Sydney) * AGSA, Art Gallery of SA (Adelaide) * AGWA, Art Gallery of WA (Perth) * NGA, National Gallery of Aus (Canberra) * NGV, National Gallery of Vic (Melbourne) * QAG, Qld Art Gallery (Brisbane) * TWMA, TarraWarra Museum of Art (Healesville) * UQld, University of Qld portrait collection (Brisbane) {{div col end}} {| class=wikitable |- | 1940–1959 || 1960–1979 || 1980–1999 || 2000–2011 |- !colspan=4|Paintings while resident in Australia |- valign=top | * 1945 [https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/7825/ ''The Wasteland II''] (AGNSW) * 1945 [https://web.archive.org/web/20120323161938/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/2108.jpg ''Keswick Siding''] (AGNSW) * 1946 [https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/works/holiday-resort/27510/ ''Holiday Resort''] (AGSA) * 1946 [http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2012/09/20/1226477/984804-jeffrey-smart.jpg ''Kapunda Mines''] (NGV) | * 1960 [http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/work/OA16.1961/ ''The Stilt Race''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417223252/http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/work/OA16.1961/ |date=17 April 2012 }} (AGNSW) * 1961 [https://archive.today/20130624234117/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/gallery-e6frg8n6-1226477986241?page=24 ''Rushcutters Bay Baths''] * 1962 ''[[Cahill Expressway (Smart)|Cahill Expressway]]''<ref>[http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2011/11/11/1226193/110158-111111jeffrey-smart.jpg ''Cahill Expressway''] (NGV)</ref> * 1963 [http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/1947.jpg ''Surfers, Bondi''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323161950/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/1947.jpg |date=23 March 2012 }} | |- !colspan=4|Paintings while resident in Italy |- valign=top | | * 1966 [https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/works/control-tower/24896/ Control Tower] (AGSA) * 1969 [https://archive.today/20130624234147/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/gallery-e6frg8n6-1226477986241?page=32 Morning practice, Baia] * 1973 [https://web.archive.org/web/20251008153007/https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/stories/jeffrey-smart-the-traveller/ The Traveller] (QAG) * 1973 [http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/work/1.1980/ Truck and trailer approaching a city] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717080324/http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/work/1.1980/ |date=17 July 2012 }} (AGNSW) * 1976 Corrugated Gioconda * 1977 [https://web.archive.org/web/20120323160411/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/1967.jpg The Dome] (TWMA) * 1979 [https://archive.today/20130624234143/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/gallery-e6frg8n6-1226477986241?page=27 Guiding Spheres] * 1979 [http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/1963.jpg Guiding Spheres II] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322224242/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/1963.jpg |date=22 March 2012 }} (Homage to Cézanne) | * 1981 [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/visual-arts/gallery-fn9d3avm-1226193111221?page=5 Night Stop, Bombay] * 1984 [https://web.archive.org/web/20120322225753/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/2066.jpg The Observer II] * 1985 [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/visual-arts/gallery-fn9d3avm-1226193111221?page=6 Art Gallery in Shopping Arcade] * 1992 [http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/1939.jpg The Oil Drums] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321091107/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/1939.jpg |date=21 March 2012 }}  * 1997 [https://web.archive.org/web/20120321093343/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/2112.jpg Level Crossing] * 1998 [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/gallery-e6frg8n6-1226477986241?page=14 Playground at Mondragone] (AGNSW) | * 2001 [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/gallery-e6frg8n6-1226477986241?page=11 The Cable Coils] * 2003 [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/visual-arts/gallery-fn9d3avm-1226193111221?page=12 On the Periphery] (NGA) * 2004 [http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/2115.jpg The Cleaners] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323161954/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/2115.jpg |date=23 March 2012 }} * 2004 [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/gallery-e6frg8n6-1226477986241?page=9 Drive-in cinema] * 2007 [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/visual-arts/gallery-fn9d3avm-1226193111221?page=13 Leaving L.A.] * 2009 [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/gallery-e6frg8n6-1226477986241?page=3 The wooden fence, St Kilda] * 2011 [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/gallery-e6frg8n6-1226477986241?page=1 Labyrinth] – Smart's final work. |- !colspan=4|Portraits |- valign=top | | | *1980 [https://web.archive.org/web/20120322224247/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/2024.jpg David Malouf] (AGWA) *1984 [https://web.archive.org/web/20120323161929/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/2056.jpg Germaine Greer]  *1992 [https://web.archive.org/web/20120322224215/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/2121.jpg Clive James] (AGNSW)  *1995 [https://web.archive.org/web/20120323161933/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/2127.jpg Margaret Olley]  | *2009 [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/gallery-e6frg8n6-1226477986241?page=2 Bruce Beresford] |- ! || || Self portraits || Portraits by others |- | || || * [http://images.theage.com.au/ftage/ffximage/2009/02/27/smart_wideweb__470x339,0.jpg 1985] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109142919/http://images.theage.com.au/ftage/ffximage/2009/02/27/smart_wideweb__470x339,0.jpg |date=9 January 2016 }} (Aged 64)  * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120323162005/http://www.etchinghouse.com.au/images/2110.jpg 1993] (Aged 72) (UQld)  | *2004 [http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/04/21/Churcher_gallery__492x550.jpg Jeffrey Smart] by [[Peter Churcher]] *n.d. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140412023432/http://l.yimg.com/fv/xp/wan/20110324/11/3829571041.jpg Jeffrey Smart] by unknown |}

== Books== * {{cite book |first=Peter|last=Quartermaine |year=1983 |title=Jeffrey Smart |publisher=Gryphon Books|location=South Yarra, Victoria |isbn=0-908131-29-1|ref=none}} Contains a catalogue of 799 works produced by Smart in the period 1939–1982. * {{cite book |first=John|last=McDonald |year=1990 |title=Jeffrey Smart : Paintings of the '70s and '80s |publisher= Craftsman House |location=Sydney|ref=none}} * {{cite book |first1=Edmund|last1=Capon|author-link1=Edmund Capon |first2=Barry|last2=Pearce |first3=Peter|last3=Quartermaine |year=1999 |title=Jeffrey Smart retrospective|type=in conjunction with the "Jeffrey Smart Retrospective Exhibition" |publisher= [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]] |isbn=0-7313-8984-0|ref=none}} * {{cite book |first=Barry|last=Pearce |year=2005 |title=Jeffrey Smart |publisher=Beagle Press |isbn=0-947349-46-4|ref=none}} * {{cite book |first=Christopher|last=Allen|author-link=Christopher Allen (critic)|year=2008 |title=Jeffrey Smart – Unpublished Paintings 1940–2007 |publisher= Australian Galleries |isbn=978-0-9751245-9-8|ref=none}} * {{cite book |first=Barry|last=Pearce |year=2011|title=Jeffrey Smart |publisher=Beagle Press |isbn=978-0-646-55361-0|ref=none}} * {{cite book |first=Barry|last=Pearce |year=2012|title=Master of Stillness: Jeffrey Smart Paintings 1940–2011 |publisher= Wakefield Press |isbn=978-1-74305-123-8|ref=none}} * {{Cite book |title=Jeffrey Smart |date=2021 |publisher=National Gallery of Australia |isbn=978-0-642-33495-4 |location=Canberra, ACT |oclc=1275391780}}

==Documentaries== Smart's work and life have been the subject of several documentaries, the most recent, titled ''Master of Stillness'', by filmmaker [[Catherine Hunter (filmmaker)|Catherine Hunter]].

''Master of Stillness'' records the creation of ''Labyrinth'' (2011), Smart's final work before retiring aged 91. Critic [[John McDonald (art critic)|John McDonald]] calls it "a farewell picture – a last definitive statement that rules a line under a long and distinguished career".<ref name=":1" /> Curator, author and critic Barry Pearce, interviewed in the film, says of ''Labyrinth'': "It is a kind of arrival at the painting he was always chasing, never satisfied, hoping the next one on the easel would be the elusive masterpiece, the one that said it all."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/arts/artists/jeffrey-smart-master-of-stillness/default.htm|work=Artscape|title=Jeffrey Smart – Master of Stillness | publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |date=23 November 2012 }}</ref> Hunter visited Smart at his farmhouse in Tuscany and the painter took her to some of the places near Arezzo that have long inspired him – the concrete streetscapes and urban wastelands that define his vision. "If a good painting comes off, it has a stillness, it has a perfection, and that's as great as anything that I think a musician or a poet can do", said Smart.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tracing Artistic Steps in Smart's Country|last=Blundell|first=Graeme|author-link=Graeme Blundell|url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/television/tracing-artistic-steps-in-smarts-country/story-fncnqfdm-1226524690344|work=[[The Australian]]|date=27 November 2012}}</ref>

==Selected exhibitions== ;The Jeffrey Smart Retrospective Exhibition : curator [[Edmund Capon]] : 27 August 1999 – 6 August 2000 :*[[Art Gallery of New South Wales]], 27 August 1999 – 31 October 1999 :*[[Art Gallery of South Australia]], 26 November 1999 – 6 February 2000 :*[[Queensland Art Gallery]], 10 March 2000 – 21 May 2000 :*[[Heide Museum of Modern Art]], 10 June 2000 – 6 August 2000

;Master of Stillness: Jeffrey Smart paintings 1940–2011 : curator Barry Pearce :12 October 2012 – 14 December 2012 :*[[Samstag Museum]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://samstag.adelaide.edu.au/exhibitions/2012/master_of_stillness/ |title=Master of Stillness: Jeffrey Smart paintings 1940 – 2011 / 12 October – 14 December 2012 |website=Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art |access-date=26 April 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260426010948/https://samstag.adelaide.edu.au/exhibitions/2012/master_of_stillness/ |archive-date=26 April 2026}}</ref> ([[Adelaide University]] City West campus) – paintings from the period 1951–2011 :10 October 2012 – end February 2013 :*[[Carrick Hill]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235924827_Artist_Profile_n21_'Master_of_Stillness_Jeffrey_Smart_paintings_1940-2011' |title=Artist Profile n.21, 'Master of Stillness: Jeffrey Smart paintings 1940-2011 |last=Sanders |first=Anne |date=October 2012 |website=ResearchGate |access-date=October 8, 2025}}</ref> – paintings and drawings from the period 1940 – 1951 (the period Smart lived and worked in Adelaide). :21 December 2012 – 31 March 2013 :*TarraWarra Museum of Art<ref>{{cite web |url=http://twma.com.au/exhibitions/event/master-of-stillness-jeffrey-smart-paintings-1940-2011/ |title=Master of Stillness: Jeffrey Smart paintings 1940-2011 |publisher=TarraWarra Museum of Art |access-date=October 8, 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130101133140/http://twma.com.au/exhibitions/event/master-of-stillness-jeffrey-smart-paintings-1940-2011 |archive-date=1 January 2013}}</ref> ;Jeffrey Smart: co-curator Rebecca Edwards :*[[National Gallery of Australia]] 11 December 2021 to 15 May 2022<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fortescue |first=Elizabeth |date=2021-12-07 |title=Modern master's mural hidden in a Sydney bottle shop |url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/modern-master-s-mural-hidden-in-a-sydney-bottle-shop-20211207-p59fj2.html |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=McDonald |first=John |date=2021-12-10 |title=The NGA has a hit on its hands with new Jeffrey Smart exhibition |url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/the-nga-has-a-hit-on-its-hands-with-new-jeffrey-smart-exhibition-20211210-p59ggs.html |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref>

Many of Smart's paintings are in private collections. However, his works are also appear in a number of public collections, including:<ref name=Pearce2012>{{cite book |first=Barry|last=Pearce |year=2012 |title=Master of Stillness: Jeffrey Smart paintings 1940–2011 |publisher=Wakefield Press |isbn=978-1-74305-123-8 }}</ref> *Carlo Boatti Collection, Milan, Italy *De Beers Collection of Contemporary Art, London, UK *Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA *Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Lugano, Switzerland *Yale University, New Haven, USA *Australian Art Galleries: **ACT: National Gallery of Australia **NSW: AGNSW, New England, Newcastle **SA: AGSA **WA: [[Art Gallery of Western Australia]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jeffrey Smart |url=https://collection.artgallery.wa.gov.au/persons/8160/jeffrey-smart |access-date=2026-03-01}}</ref> **Vic: Melbourne Arts Centre, Ballarat, Benella, Bendigo, Castlemaine, National Gallery of Victoria, TarraWarra, Warrnambool **NT: M&AGNT **Qld: QAG, Rockhampton **Tas: TasM&AG *Australian Universities: ANU, Melbourne,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Talking Art Library – Jeffrey Smart's Hindmarsh tannery by Katja Wagner {{!}} Ian Potter Museum of Art |url=https://art-museum.unimelb.edu.au/resources/audio/talking-art-library-jeffrey-smarts-hindmarsh-tannery-by-katja-wagner |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=art-museum.unimelb.edu.au |date=26 February 2019 |language=en-AU}}</ref> Queensland, UniSA, Sydney<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jeffrey Smart – Museums – The University of Sydney |url=https://www.sydney.edu.au/museums/collections_search/#search-results&view=details&modules=eparties&irn=3472&id=e3ee |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=sydney.edu.au}}</ref> *Others: **Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth **National Trust, NSW **Parliament House, Canberra, ACT **Reserve Bank, Sydney, NSW **Royal Perth Hospital, WA **Wesfarmers Collection, Perth

==Sales of Smart's work== * ''Self Portrait at Papini's'', 1984–1985 85 cm × 115 cm, Sold at world record price of A$1,260,000 on 27 August 2014.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150214033828/http://www.deutscherandhackett.com/node/37500011/ ''Self Portrait at Papini's''], Deutscher and Hackett, 2014</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/arts/sa-artist-jeffrey-smarts-paintings-make-more-than-3-million-at-auction-in-two-days/story-fni6um7a-1227040555938?nk=b04140c41d38f4b893126ab8710de884 |title=SA artist Jeffrey Smart's paintings make more than $3 million at auction in two days |first=Louise |last=Nunn |website=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]] |date=28 August 2014 |access-date=October 8, 2025 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140902024847/http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/arts/sa-artist-jeffrey-smarts-paintings-make-more-than-3-million-at-auction-in-two-days/story-fni6um7a-1227040555938 |archive-date=September 2, 2014}}</ref> *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120410173518/http://www.deutscherandhackett.com/sites/all/themes/dh/images/artworks/large/110105.jpg ''Autobahn in the Black Forest II, 1979–80''], (oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas, signed lower right: Jeffrey Smart, 100 × 65 cm), sold for a record A$1,020,000 at auction by Deutscher and Hackett in Melbourne on 20 April 2011.<ref name=etchinghouse/> *"Holiday 1971", (oil on canvas, signed lower right, Jeffrey Smart, inscribed verso, Holiday, 100 × 81 cm), sold at auction by [[Menzies Art Brands|Menzies]] for A$960,000 in Sydney on 24 June 2010.<ref name=etchinghouse/><ref>[https://archive.today/20130128181535/http://www.menziesartbrands.com/auctions?rm=view&id=5298 Lot 40], Melbourne, 20 June 2012, Menzies Art Brands.</ref>

A list of sales of 670 of Smart's work can be found at Australian Art Sales Digest.<ref>[http://www.aasd.com.au/subscribers/list_all_works.cfm?concat=smartfrank Smart, Frank Jeffrey Edson. 1921–. Australia, Europe], Australian Art Sales Digest, www.aasd.com.au</ref>

==Honours and awards==

Jeffrey Street in [[Hawthorn, South Australia]], was named after Smart by his father who was involved in the sub-division of that area. In his memoir, ''Not Quite Straight'', Smart comments that there is a bend in Jeffrey Street, and hence it, too, is "Not Quite Straight".<ref name=NQS>{{cite book |first=Jeffrey |last=Smart |title=Not Quite Straight : A Memoir |publisher=W. Heinemann |year=1996 |isbn= 978-0-85561-712-7 }}</ref>

In 1951, Smart was awarded the Commonwealth Jubilee Art Prize. He was conferred the honorary title of [[Doctor of the University]] by the [[University of Sydney]] in 1999,<ref>{{cite web |title=Jeffrey Smart |url=http://sydney.edu.au/senate/HonSmart.shtml |work=Honorary Awards: All past recipients |date=2 September 1999 |publisher=[[University of Sydney]] |access-date=23 June 2013}}</ref> and by the [[University of South Australia]] in 2011.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Jeffrey Smart to receive honorary doctorate from UniSA |date=18 August 2011 |publisher=[[University of South Australia]] |url=http://w3.unisa.edu.au/news/2011/180811.asp |access-date=23 June 2013 |archive-date=22 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522203250/http://w3.unisa.edu.au/news/2011/180811.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Smart was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of Australia]] in 2001 for his service to the visual arts, particularly through his distinctive portrayal of the urban landscape, and through the encouragement offered to young artists.<ref name=AO>{{cite web |title=Jeffrey Edson Smart AO |url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/869692 |date=11 June 2001 |work=It's an Honour |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Australia]] |access-date=23 June 2013 |archive-date=9 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109142919/http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/honours/honour_roll/search.cfm?aus_award_id=869692&search_type=simple&showInd=true |url-status=live }}</ref>

Jeffrey Smart was a patron and active supporter of the [[Tait Memorial Trust]] in London, a charity established by Isla Baring OAM, the daughter of Sir Frank Tait of [[JC Williamson]]'s, to support young Australian performing artists in the UK.<ref>[http://www.taitmemorialtrust.org/Home Tait Memorial Trust] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160724035412/http://www.taitmemorialtrust.org/Home |date=24 July 2016 }}. Tait Memorial Trust (3 September 2013). Retrieved on 2013-09-07.</ref>

Following his death, the [[University of South Australia]] announced on 21 June 2013 that the newest building at its City West campus, to be opened in 2014, would be named the "Jeffrey Smart Building".<ref>{{cite news |author=Starke, Petra |url=http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/unisa-building-to-be-named-after-acclaimed-adelaide-artist-jeffrey-smart-who-has-died-aged-91/story-e6frea83-1226667359415 |title=UniSA building to be named after acclaimed Adelaide artist Jeffrey Smart, who has died aged 91 |work=AdelaideNow |date=21 June 2013 |access-date=21 June 2013 |agency=Australian Associated Press}}</ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == {{Portal|LGBTQ|South Australia|Visual arts}} *[http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/artists/smart-jeffrey/ Jeffrey Smart] at the [[Art Gallery of New South Wales]] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20160109142920/http://www.philipbacon.com.au/artists/JeffreySmart/extract.html Extract from Philip Bacon Galleries catalogue] *[http://www.daao.org.au/bio/jeffrey-smart/ Jeffrey Smart at Design & Art Australia Online] *[http://www.grafico-qld.com/content/jeffrey-smart Sue Smith interview], 19 October 1996 *[https://web.archive.org/web/20140129233112/http://www.abc.net.au/tv/talkingheads/txt/s2275731.htm ABC ''Talking Heads'' interview], 23 June 2008 *[http://www.theage.com.au/national/memories-of-jeffrey-smart-20130621-2onbl.html Memories of Jeffrey Smart], The Age, 24 June 2013

===Copyright photographs=== {{div col}} *[http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2011/11/11/1226193/109342-111111jeffrey-smart.jpg Smart at work on his final painting, ''Labyrinth'', in 2011.] *[http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2011/11/11/1226193/110268-111111jeffrey-smart.jpg Smart and his partner, Ermes de Zan, 2011] *[http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2011/11/11/1226193/110238-111111jeffrey-smart.jpg Smart aged 90, 2011] *[http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517TYGKDH2L._SS500_.jpg Book cover], ''Paintings of the '70s and '80s'' *[http://www.grafico-qld.com/sites/default/files/pictures/jeffrey-smart-memoir.jpg Book cover], ''Not Quite Straight'' {{div col end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smart, Jeffrey}} [[Category:1921 births]] [[Category:2013 deaths]] [[Category:Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière]] [[Category:University of South Australia alumni]] [[Category:Australian expatriates in Italy]] [[Category:Australian male painters]] [[Category:Deaths from kidney failure in Italy]] [[Category:Gay painters]] [[Category:Australian landscape artists]] [[Category:Australian gay artists]] [[Category:Australian LGBTQ painters]] [[Category:National Art School alumni]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of Australia]] [[Category:Artists from Adelaide]] [[Category:Artists from Sydney]] [[Category:Australian expatriates in France]] [[Category:20th-century Australian painters]] [[Category:Australian modern painters]] [[Category:People educated at Pulteney Grammar School]] [[Category:People educated at Unley High School]]