Sir Matthew Smith, CBE (1879-1959)

Q. Who was Matthew Smith

A. Matthew Smith was an influential - though today somewhat neglected - British 20th-century painter.

Q. What distinguishes his work

A. His principal themes and subjects - nudes, landscapes, still lifes and portraits - remained constant throughout his long working life. He has been described as the finest British colourist of his generation, and his importance in 20th-century British art lies in his passionate engagement with colour and the substance of paint. His work was lauded by such major figures of the art establishment as Augustus John and Jacob Epstein, the latter owning a large collection of Smith's work.

Perhaps his most lasting contribution to British art will be the influence his work had on a later generation of British painters, in particular Francis Bacon, who said of Smith: 'I very much admire Matthew Smith...He seems to me to be one of the very few English painters since Constable and Turner to be concerned with painting.'

Q. What is 'colourism'

A. Colourism is not an artistic movement - although there have been movements which specifically employ colourist elements in their work, such as the Kapists, a group of mid 20th-century Polish painters - it is more an expression of technique. So a colourist painter is one who uses colour in a particularly skilful way as a central element of his or her work.

Q. And a brief biography of the artist

A. Matthew Smith's was born the son of a Yorkshire industrialist, who tried in vain to force his artistic son into the family business. Smith eventually got his way and studied in Manchester and the Slade School in London. In 1908 he departed for France and the painters' colony at Pont Arven. He spent time in Paris, where he studied at the Atelier Matisse.

After his experiences fighting in the First World War he went through a period of painting dark, brooding landscapes and suffered from nervous collapse. In the 1920s he returned to painting nudes, in particular of fellow artist Vera Cunningham.

He received a CBE in 1949 and a knighthood in 1954. In the 1950s his still lifes began to develop into stunning, colourful and highly decorative pieces. Failing eyesight and poor health curtailed his oil painting from the middle of the decade, although he continued to draw and produce watercolours right up to his death in 1959.

There is a biography of Smith entitled Matthew Smith: His Life and Reputation by Malcolm Yorke, which is worth having a look at if you'd like to find out more about this artist. Also Guildhall Art Gallery (see below) sells a title by Alice Keene entitled The Two Mr Smiths, a highly illustrated look at his life and work.

Q. Where can his work be seen

A. The largest single public collection of Matthew Smith's work is held by Guildhall Art Gallery in the City of London, and there is a permanent exhibition on show there. The collection of more than 1,000 works, including oils, watercolours, pastels, drawings and sketchbooks, was presented to the Corporation of London - the owners of the Gallery - in 1974 by Smith's friend and favourite model, Mary Keene. She had met the artist in 1941 and inherited the contents of his studio on his death in 1959.

View images from Guildhall Art Gallery's collection of Matthew Smith's work at http://collage.nhil.com/

Find the Guildhall Art Gallery's website at http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/leisure_heritage/libraries_archives_museums_galleries/guildhall_art_gallery/index.htm

See also the answerbank articles on Guildhall Art Gallery and Walter Sickert

For more on Arts & Literature click here

By Simon Smith