Richard Smith CBE (English, 1931-2016)

Biography

Richard Smith is regarded as one of his generation's most important artists. He studied at the Royal College of Art alongside Peter Blake and Robyn Denny in the 1950s. In his first years after art school, he worked with Terence Conran (founder of the Design Museum), who continued to be one of Smith’s biggest supporters. In 1959, Smith moved to New York on the Harkness Fellowship. He stayed in New York for two years, and during this time, he had his first solo exhibition at the Green Gallery. In America, Smith absorbed the flashy, colourful aesthetic of billboard advertising and incorporated it into his abstract works.

Returning to the UK, Smith began to make larger works that were no longer limited by the flat construction of the canvas on the stretcher. One of Smith’s most famous works, in the collection of the Tate, protrudes several meters into the gallery space. The 1960s brought great acclaim to Smith with exhibitions at the Kasmin Gallery in 1963, the Tate in 1964, the Richard Feigen Gallery in 1966, and the São Paulo Biennial, where he won the Grand Prize in 1967. In 1970, Smith was invited to exhibit at the XXXV Venice Biennale as the official British artist. In 1976, Smith moved back to the US, settling in Patchogue on Long Island, New York.

Richard Smith’s works are held in important public collections in the UK and US, including the Tate, British Museum, and Victoria and Albert Museum in London; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, Brooklyn Museum, and the Whitney in New York.