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Born in Hove, Sussex England Gordon Smith moved to Canada in 1933 with his mother and brother. They settled in Winnipeg, and in 1935 he began to study art at The Winnipeg School of Art under LL. Fitzgerald. After working at Brigden’s Winnipeg in the design department with his brother, Smith joined the war service. Before heading overseas he married Marion Fleming whom he had met on a vacation to Vancouver. He incurred several wounds while invading Sicily and was forced to endure a long rehabilitation, which eventually brought him home to Canada. Marion and Gordon settled in Vancouver where he promptly went back to school. After finishing he began to teach along side B.C Binning and Jack Shadbolt. Both these artists had a profound effect on his work. In 1956 Smith took a teaching position with UBC where he worked until his retirement in 1982. With “Untitled (Coastal Scene)” one sees the great range of Smith who works in many media. In whatever medium Smith chooses he inhabits the space between landscape and pure abstraction. He has a visible affection for the land as well as a physical and emotional involvement in the act of painting. Gordon Smith has won many awards and continues to produce paintings that represent BC while playing with the abstract.
Education:
1935-1937: Attended Winnipeg School of Art under L.L. Fitzgerald
1944, 1945: Graduated Vancouver Normal School and Vancouver
School of Art
1950: Advanced painting courses, California School of Fine Arts,
San Francisco, Ca., studied under Elmer Bischoff
1957: Summer Studies in Art History at Harvard University, Boston
Selected Exhibitions:
1955:
Canadian Biennial, Ottawa, Ontario and successive
biennials until 1967
1957:
Guggenheim International Exhibition, Guggenheim
Museum, New York
1959:
l00 Years of Canadian Painting, Laing Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
7 West Coast Painters, U.B.C. Fine Arts Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1960:
Sao Paolo Biennial, Sao Paolo, Brazil
Ten West Coast Painters, Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ontario
1961:
Warsaw, Poland
National Gallery of Canada group exhibition, touring to Mexico,
Australia, England and Chile
1962:
Pacific Northwest Paintings, Seattle World’s Fair, Seattle, WA
1966:
Ten Years of Painting by Gordon Smith, touring exhibition
organized by U.B.C. Fine Arts Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
1967:
Canadian Graphic Art, Expo 67, Montreal, Quebec
1968:
British Print Biennial, Bradford, England
3rd Biennial of Modern Prints, Santiago, Chile
Godard Lefort Gallery, Montreal, Quebec
1970:
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York
Screenprint 1970, Chicago, Illinois
New Graphics from Canada, University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Editions Unlimited, White Museum, Ithaca, New York
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware
Tacoma Museum, Tacoma, Washington
Katonah Museum, New York
Portland Museum, Portland, Maine
1971 9th International Exhibition of Graphic Art, Ljubljana,
Yugoslavia
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
Upstairs Gallery, Ithaca, New York
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Gallery Three, Connecticut
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
National Collection, Smithsonian Institute, Washington
1972:
Gallery of Contemporary Arts, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pratt Art Centre, New York
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, Ca.
1st Norwegian International Print Biennial, Oslo, Norway
4th International Biennial, Cracow, Poland
1973:
10th International Exhibition of Graphic Art, Ljubljana,
Yugoslavia
Selections from Art Bank, Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris, France
Godard Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
1973-94:
Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, Toronto
1974:
13 Artists from Marlborough Godard, Marlborough Gallery, NY
1975:
Canadian Canvas, group exhibiton touring Canada
1976:
Gordon Smith, retrospective organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery
1977-80:
Mira Godard Gallery, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary
1979:
Aspects of Canadian Printmaking, travelling group
exhibition organized by the Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto
1983:
Vancouver Art and Artists 1931-1983, Vancouver Art Gallery
1985:
Mira Godard Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
1986:
Robertson Galleries, Ottawa, Ontario
1988:
Gordon Smith Recent Work, Vancouver Art Gallery
1989:
Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver and Toronto
1990:
Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
1991:
Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver and Toronto
1992:
Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, B.C
1993:
Bau-Xi Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
1994:
Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna, B.C.
1995:
Simon Fraser University Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
1996:
Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
1997:
Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
“Gordon Smith: The Act of Painting”, Vancouver Art
Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
1998:
Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
1999:
Les Peintures”, Galerie Rene Blouin/Galerie Lilian
Rodriguez, Montreal, Quebec.
“Paintings on Paper”, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
2000:
“New Paintings”, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
2001:
“Byway Trees”, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.
2002:
“On Reflection”, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2003:
Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2004:
Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC
2005:
Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Awards and Commissions:
1955:
First Prize, Biennial of Canadian Art
1960:
Canada Council Senior Fellowship
1961:
Baxter Award, Toronto
Prize, Group Exhibition, London, Ontario
Prizes in Vancouver Annuals
Prizes in Victoria Annuals
1966:
2nd Prize, Winnipeg Biennial
1967:
Commission, Children’s Playground in collaboration with
Cornelia Oberlander
1968:
First Prize, Canadian Group, Montreal
Prize, 3rd Santiago Biennial Exhibition of Modern Engraving,
Santiago, Chile
1970:
Canadian Pavillion Commission - Kinetic Umbrellas - in
collaboration with Arthur Erickson, Expo ‘70, Osaka, Japan
1973:
L.L.D., Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C.
1974:
Allied Arts Medal, Royal Canadian Architectural Institute
1976:
Commissioned to contribute to “Hommage au Prix Nobel” -
a suite of graphics commissioned by the Nobel Prize Committee
for presentation to the Nobel laureates
1981:
Professor Emeritus, University of B.C., Vancouver, B.C.
1988:
Canadian Embassy, Washington, .D.C., mural commission
1993:
Art Leadership Award, Art Fair Seattle
1993:
Waterfront Hotel, Vancouver, B.C., commission
1995: Received an L.L.D. from the Emily Carr College of Art &
Design
1996:
Appointed to the Order of Canada
2000:
Appointed to the Order of BC
Murals:
Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Vancouver, B.C.
Vancouver Law Library, Vancouver, B.C.
University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C.
Canadian Trade Pavillion, Tokyo, Japan
Canadian Pavillion, World’s Fair 1970, Osaka, Japan
Canadian Embassy, Washington, D.C., 1988
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, U.B.C., 1997
The Wosk Centre for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University, Downtown
Campus, Vancouver, B.C.
Vancouver, B.C.
Collections:
Albright-Knox Members Gallery, Buffalo
Albright-Knox Purchase for Maine Midland Bank Building, Buffalo,
N.Y.
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Birmingham Art Gallery, Birmingham, England
B.C. Provincial Art Government Art Collection, Victoria
Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa
Carnegie Foundation, New York
Confederation Art Gallery and Museum, Charlottetown
Department of External Affairs, Ottawa
Glenbow Museum, Calgary
Hart House Gallery, University of Toronto
Lethbridge Art Gallery, Lethbridge
London Regional Art Gallery
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Museum of Modern Art, New York
National Collection, Smithsonian Institute, Washington
National Gallery of Canada
National Museum of Wales , Cardif, Wales
Sir George Williams Art Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal
South London Art Gallery, London, England
Vancouver Art Gallery
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Victoria Art Gallery
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Aird, Berlis
Amstar Corporation
Atlantic-Richfield
Bank of New York
Bank of Nova Scotia
Benson and Hedges
Chase Manhattan Bank
Ciba-Geigy
Citibank
Clarkson Gordon and Company
Crown Life Insurance Company
Cummins Engine Company
Davies, Ward and Beck
Dunwoody and Company
Ferguson Gifford
First National City Bank
Guaranty Trust Company of Canada
Gulf and Western Building
Imperial Oil
J.C. Penney and Company
Lignum Ltd.
London Free Press
Marine-Midland Bank
Markle Foundation
Microtel
Mercantile Bank of Canada
Morris & Helen Belkin Art Gallery
Norcen Energy Resources Ltd.
Osler, A.E. Willis Bickle Ltd.
Pemberton Houston Willoughby
Polysar Ltd.
Price Waterhouse
Quaker Oats Collection
Russell & DuMoulin
Royal Bank of Canada
Shell Canada
Strand Development Corporation
Teleglobe Canada
Thorne Riddell
Toronto Dominion Bank
Tory Deslauriers and Binnington
Westburne Industries
Worrall Scott & Page
Wood Gundy
Xerox Canada Incorporated
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