Frank Jeffrey (Jeff) Edson Smart Australia, Europe, 1921-2013
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About Jeffrey Smart
Smart was born in Adelaide in 1921 and studied part-time at the South Australian School of Arts and Crafts in the 1930s, also training at Adelaide Teachers College from 1939 to 1941. Modernist painter and printmaker Dorrit Black greatly influenced the young artist. Smart began exhibiting in group shows in the early 1940s and had his first solo exhibition in Melbourne in 1944. Smart travelled to Europe in 1948 and studied under Fernand Léger at the Académie Montmartre in Paris, also visiting Italy and England. he returned to Australia in 1951 and settled in Sydney where he lived for the next 12 years. During that time he worked among artists including Russell Drysdale, Justin O’Brien and Jean Bellette, was an art critic for the Daily Telegraph and taught at the National Art School. In 1963 Smart left Australia permanently for Rome. It was during this decade he gained major recognition for his meticulously crafted paintings. Later he moved to Arezzo in Tuscany where he remained for the rest of his career.
Jeff Smart is one of the most prolific of the artists listed in our database, with the number of works offered for sale by auction since 1969 of 1,059, of which 805 (76%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $1,963,635 for The Observer II, 1983-84 sold by Menzies in April 2018. In addition to this sale, a further 4 works by this artist have been sold for over $1 million. This year 30 works have been offered for sale. Works by Jeff Smart are held by the Art Gallery of NSW, National Gallery of Australia and a further eight major public national galleries (see list below).
Jeffrey Smart is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- McCulloch, Alan McCulloch, Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch-Childs. The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art. 4th Edition, Aus Art Melbourne & The Miegunyah Press, 2006. Page 889
- Germaine, Max. Artists and Galleries of Australia, Volumes 1 & 2, Third Edition. Craftsman Press, Sydney, 1990. Page 628
- Campbell, Jean. Australian Watercolour Painters: 1780 to the Present Day. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1989. Page 366
- Australian Prints + Printmaking, a database listing printmaking artists from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region based on the print collection of the National Gallery of Australia.
Artists' Resale Royalty
Could the second and subsequent works by this artist sold after June 9, 2010 for over $1,000 be liable for the Artists' Resale Royalty? More info…
Yes, eligible, subject to the artist satisfying the residency test. The artist is alive or has been deceased for less than 70 years. Contact the Copyright Agency for information on the residency test.
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