May Smith Britain, New Zealand, 1906-88
Past Sales
Sales by Medium
Where to buy or sell art works by May Smith
Auction Houses
About May Smith
Born in India in 1906, May Smith arrived in Auckland in 1921 and studied at the Elam School. In 1928 she went to London and continued her studies at the Royal College of Art. She worked as a fabric designer and exhibited with the London Group before returning to New Zealand in 1939. Here she continued painting, fabric designing and printing as well as teaching. She retired from teaching art at Epsom Girls' Grammar School in 1967, and settled in Coromandel where she continued to paint. Her painting style is usually semi-abstract and painted in richly decorative colours.
The total number of works by May Smith offered for sale by auction since 1991 is 74, of which 45 (61%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $3,182 for Wanganui Island (Triptych) sold by International Art Centre in September 2014. This year one work has been offered for sale. Works by May Smith are held by the Auckland Art Gallery.
May Smith is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- Gil Docking, with additions by Michael Gunn covering 1970-90. Two Hundred Years of New Zealand Painting, David Bateman Ltd., New Zealand, 1990 Page 150
- McGahey, Kate. The Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Artists Painters Printmakers Sculptors, Gilt Edge Publishing, Wellington, New Zealand, 2000. Page 226
- The Find New Zealand Artists web site: a database of artist names that directs researchers to the rich resources found in New Zealand's libraries, art society exhibition histories and published sources.
The Australian Art Sales Digest is a database of over 610,000 works by more than 12,000 artists who are listed as having either lived or worked in Australia or New Zealand, and an additional 36,000 foreign and other artists, offered for sale by auction in Australia and New Zealand from the early 1970s to the present day.
Access to the database is available on either a monthly or annual subscription. During the subscription period you have unlimited access to the site. If you would like to subscribe, please proceed to our Subscription Form.