Sir Matthew Smith

Sir Matthew Smith (1879 - 1959)

Matthew Smith studied technical drawing at Manchester School of Art from 1900 to 1904, and continued his training at the Slade School of Fine Art, London, from 1905 to 1907. He attended Henri Matisse's Paris studio for a brief period in 1910. Smith lived and worked in London, but frequently returned to France in the inter-war years, especially to Provence. Smith's ethereal drawing and rich colours were inspired by Fauvism, and particularly by Matisse, from as early as 1914 - for instance in Fitzroy Street Nude No. 1 (1916) and Cornish Landscapes. Broad swathes of rich, unctuous colour, voluptuous arabesques and the painted landscapes of Cornwall, around 1920, are characteristic of his talented output, which proved highly influential for English painting in the post-war years. Smith also painted a number of scenes depicting World War II. He was knighted in 1954.

Text Source: Benezit Dictionary of Artists