BE 66
SIR MATTHEW SMITH
Halifax 1879-1959 London
Fruit in a bowl, striped background (II)
Signed
Board: 15 x 17 in / 38 x 43 cm
Frame size: 23 x 25 5/8 in / 58.4 x 65.1 cm
Painted circa 1913
Provenance:
Jacon Kramer?
Sir Barnet Stross MP, 1920s
Private collection, then by descent
Literature:
John Gledhill, Matthew Smith: Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Lund Humphries, 2009, no. 40, illustrated in colour
Sir Matthew Smith is occasionally, and sometimes controversially, referred to as a ‘latter day fauve’. Having briefly worked with Matisse in his Atelier in Paris in 1911 Smith had certainly been exposed to the master’s theories on colour and form and many feel that Matisse made a marked contribution to the development of his own personal style. John Russell comments in the catalogue for the Smith retrospective held at the Barbican in 1983 on how he ‘learned to liberate and intensify his colour at a time when most English paintings was darkened and congested’ (Matthew Smith, exhibition catalogue 1983, p 30).
When Smith returned to London from France at the outbreak of the First World War he set up his studio at 2 Fitzroy Street where he was immediately exposed to the most ‘modern’ artistic opinions and this, combined with his experience of the new artistic ideals that were being applied on the continent, provided a fertile environment for him to experiment with new ideas. In the autumn of 1914 and into early 1915 Smith began a group of paintings that immediately altered the direction of his work. He developed an acute sensitivity to colour and these daring works are instilled with a remarkable dynamic energy. His palette consisted of strong, primary colours setting viridian against red and yellow against blue and, like Matisse before him, his still lifes were frequently set against a patterned cloth. Most of the examples from this relatively small body of work are in public collections and the present painting appears to be a larger and more complete version of Fruit in a dish in the Tate.
Fruit in a dish, circa 1915 Tate
SIR MATTHEW SMITH
Halifax 1879-1959 London
Born in Halifax in 1879 Matthew Smith worked in Manchester before persuading his parents to allow him to enrol in the Art Department of the Manchester School of Technology in 1901. He received considerable accolades during this period and in 1905 he moved to London to study at the Slade School.
In 1908 Smith made his first trip to France and visited Pont Aven in Brittany, he then travelled extensively throughout France for the next two years finally settling in Paris where, in 1911, he studied briefly at the Atelier Matisse.
In 1912 he married and then moved to Grèz-sur-Loing where he remained until 1914 when the outbreak of the First World War forced him to stay in London and take a studio in Fitzroy Street. In 1916 he met Walter Sickert and exhibited for the first time with the London Group with whom he was associated for many years becoming a member in 1920.
With the escalation of hostilities in France Smith was mobilised and in 1917 he went to France where he fought at Ypres and Arras but was severely wounded and returned to England. After the War he returned to France and settled once again in Grèz where he met and developed a lifelong friendship with Roderick O’Connor. Although he frequently visited England Smith spent the next ten years living and travelling in France and Italy eventually returning to London in 1940.
Throughout his career Matthew Smith contributed to numerous exhibitions including the Salon des Independents in Paris (1911), the Mayor Gallery in London, where he held his first solo exhibition in 1929, and he regularly exhibited at Reid and Lefevre and Arthur Tooth and Sons. A major retrospective of his work was held at the Tate Gallery in 1953 and in 1960, the year after his death, the Royal Academy staged a memorial exhibition.