Joan Smith Britain, New Zealand, 1911-99
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About Joan Smith
Joan Smith was born in Surrey, England and was educated at the London School for Girls and later studied at the Slade School of Art. She came to New Zealand with her husband after World War I and had an immediate success with the publication of an award winning children’s book which she wrote and illustrated, and which involved her in hand drawing the 120 lithographic plates. As a graphic artist, Joan Smith produced numerous illustrations for the New Zealand Education Department publications and she collaborated with the late Roderick Finlayson in illustrating his six part series on British and Maori History. Joan Smith was a working member of the Auckland Society of Arts and she also gave piano lessons for which she was qualified as a registered teacher.
In our database, 33 works by Joan Smith are listed as being offered for sale, the earliest in 1984, of which 18 (55%) were sold. The highest price recorded for the artist is $1,580 for Tangi sold by Webb's in October 1992. No works have been offered for sale this year, and the last sale we have recorded for the artist was in 2022. Works by Joan Smith are held by the Auckland Art Gallery.
Joan Smith is listed in the following standard biographical references:
- Germaine, Max. Artists and Galleries of Australia, Volumes 1 & 2, Third Edition. Craftsman Press, Sydney, 1990. Page 632
- Germaine, Max. A Dictionary of Women Artists of Australia. Craftsman House, Sydney, 1991. Page 414
- McGahey, Kate. The Concise Dictionary of New Zealand Artists Painters Printmakers Sculptors, Gilt Edge Publishing, Wellington, New Zealand, 2000. Page 226
- 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.
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.
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