Jeffrey Smart retrospective

by Edmund Capon

In the story of modern Australian art, Jeffrey Smart stands alone. The vocabulary of his visual language - modern city life, a kind of deadpan realism tinged with a hint of surrealism - is unmistakably of our time, but his sense of composition is devoted to the most rigorous and eloquent standards of the High Renaissance and the works of such artists as Piero della Francesca. This catalogue is a retrospective of Smart's work over more than four decades, focusing on his most fundamental concerns and interests. Images have been selected for the volume in terms of their composition, in the belief that in this aspect of his work lies the secret to an understanding and appreciation of his importance as an artist.

Genres: Art

212 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 1999

About the author

Edmund George Capon AM, OBE was an art scholar specialising in Chinese art. He was director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales 1978–2011. He was also the Chairman of Football club, Sydney FC 2006–07. - Wikipedia

Capon had spent his time writing, guest curating and travelling since he retired after 33 years as director in 2011, and moved between Australia and England.

Capon was both a scholar and a showman. He was a Mandarin-speaking expert in Chinese art and a lively and gregarious public figure, known for his fondness for giraffes and odd socks.

The gallery’s longest-serving director was an unlikely choice as director when he arrived in Sydney in 1978 from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, where he was assistant keeper of the Far Eastern section. But he combined deep knowledge of art with popular appeal.

The cigar-smoking Capon was as at ease in the studios of international artists such as Cy Twombly as he was chatting about his beloved Chelsea football team to the Gallery’s security staff, who he knew by name. - obit SMH