The Art and life of Jeffrey Smart

Dr Nick Gordon

Course Description

Jeffrey Smart is one of Australia’s most loved artists. His paintings of eerily silent yet colourful urban landscapes are prize pieces in Australia’s galleries and private collections, and often evoke a sense of mystery, as if only part of a story has been glimpsed. This course explores his art and his life, from his beginnings in Adelaide, to his breakthrough in Sydney, and the creation of iconic paintings in his studio in Tuscany. In addition, it explores the range of influences on his work, including Piero della Francesca, Cézanne and Léger, his one-time teacher in Paris.

Course Content

The life and times of Jeffrey Smart. Jeffrey Smart led an extraordinary life, through suburban Adelaide, to Sydney, Melbourne, Paris and ultimately Italy. Fleeting glimpses of this life are caught in his works – Sydney baths and beaches in the 1960s, the economic miracle of post-war Italy – but what makes these so significant? To what extent are these personal visions of the modern world?

Anxiety of influence. Behind Smart’s work is an exceptional degree of rigour – indeed, even as an eminent artist he continued to study life drawing in Italy. Explore the range of influences on Smart’s work, from Renaissance masters such as Piero della Francesca, to modernists such as Cézanne, and contemporaries such as Dorrit Black and Fernand Léger.

Smart’s early works. Smart’s early works reveal much about his later success, such as his devotion to line and form, or his understanding and rejection of some types of abstraction. But, as easy as it is to look back and trace a straight line to the present, his early works also tell a different story – one of struggle, one of bucking the art trends of his day, and his engagement with artists and his contribution to public life.

Iconic Italy. When one travels through Italy – along its roads, airports and harbours – one often sees a ‘Smart’. Smart was one of a number of Australian artists and writers who discovered Italy and left a permanent mark on how we see the place. Explore these iconic works of Smart in detail, and get to know the artistic and art historical games he’s playing in them.

Perspective and geometry. Smart’s mastery of linear perspective resonates throughout his oeuvre. The technique itself, however, is part of Smart’s wider use of geometry to give consistent structure to his works on a two-dimensional surface. This session teaches you to how to analyse the geometry that underpins his work.

Course Structure

3 x 1.5 hour sessions.

Each session includes an interactive lecture and time for group discussion and analysis.

Course Dates

To find out when this course will run next, please join the waitlist using the form below.

REquirements

This course does not require any assumed knowledge, only a willingness to learn and an interest in art.

Sessions require access to ZOOM (which is free), a device with a camera (such as a tablet or computer with a webcam), and an internet connection.

Join Wait list

Join the waiting list for this course to find out when it will next run