10th Jun, 2026 12:00
Live Sale: Fine Paintings, Works on Paper and Sculpture June 2026
30
⊕ JEFFREY SMART (AUSTRALIAN 1921-2013)
signed and dated JEFF SMART '44 lower right
oil on canvas laid down on board
49.5 x 59.5cm; 19 1/2 x 23 1/2in (framed)
Seven Works by Australian Artists from a Private Collection, Surrey (lots 30-36)
Provenance
Thence by descent to the present owner, daughter of the above
Literature
Quartermaine, Peter Jeffrey Smart Gryphon Books South Yarra, 1983 p.104 No.218
Smart was predominantly interested in landscape, and especially focused on the urban environment, fascinated by the anonymity of houses, shops, factories, airports, highways and road signs. Although his compositions were based on reality, over the years the mood of his paintings became increasingly enigmatic. He introduced figures that shared the same sense of detachment as their surroundings, the resultant canvases often bordering on the surreal.
One of a number of Australian artists who turned to the city for inspiration, Smart was influenced by such painter pioneers as Hans Heysen (1877-1968) and Horace Trenerry (1899-1958) who had explored the vast open spaces of the continent before him. He was also a keen reader of the poetry of T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) whose incantations of streets and buildings can be felt in the visual disengagement of Smart's city imagery, whilst the sense of emptiness in Smart's compositions bears comparison with the work of Eliot's contemporary, the American painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967).
The present early work by Smart already shows his interest in geometry and precisely composed landscapes in bright colours. He commented 'My only concern is putting the right shapes in the right colours in the right places. It is always geometry'.
Smart studied at the South Australian School of Art in Adelaide from 1937-1941 and at La Grande Chaumière in Paris from 1948-1949 where he was taught by Fernand Léger. He returned to Australia in 1951 and worked as art critic for The Daily Telegraph in Sydney but in 1963 he travelled once more to Europe, where he settled in Italy.
Sold for £9,000
signed and dated JEFF SMART '44 lower right
oil on canvas laid down on board
49.5 x 59.5cm; 19 1/2 x 23 1/2in (framed)
Seven Works by Australian Artists from a Private Collection, Surrey (lots 30-36)
Provenance
Thence by descent to the present owner, daughter of the above
Literature
Quartermaine, Peter Jeffrey Smart Gryphon Books South Yarra, 1983 p.104 No.218
Smart was predominantly interested in landscape, and especially focused on the urban environment, fascinated by the anonymity of houses, shops, factories, airports, highways and road signs. Although his compositions were based on reality, over the years the mood of his paintings became increasingly enigmatic. He introduced figures that shared the same sense of detachment as their surroundings, the resultant canvases often bordering on the surreal.
One of a number of Australian artists who turned to the city for inspiration, Smart was influenced by such painter pioneers as Hans Heysen (1877-1968) and Horace Trenerry (1899-1958) who had explored the vast open spaces of the continent before him. He was also a keen reader of the poetry of T.S. Eliot (1888-1965) whose incantations of streets and buildings can be felt in the visual disengagement of Smart's city imagery, whilst the sense of emptiness in Smart's compositions bears comparison with the work of Eliot's contemporary, the American painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967).
The present early work by Smart already shows his interest in geometry and precisely composed landscapes in bright colours. He commented 'My only concern is putting the right shapes in the right colours in the right places. It is always geometry'.
Smart studied at the South Australian School of Art in Adelaide from 1937-1941 and at La Grande Chaumière in Paris from 1948-1949 where he was taught by Fernand Léger. He returned to Australia in 1951 and worked as art critic for The Daily Telegraph in Sydney but in 1963 he travelled once more to Europe, where he settled in Italy.
Auction: Live Sale: Fine Paintings, Works on Paper and Sculpture June 2026, 10th Jun, 2026
L.S. Lowry’s expansive Figures on a Beach (lot 39) is the lead painting in our June sale that ranges from the Old Masters to Modern British and post-War & Contemporary. Many of the works have been in the same collection for decades; a number have fascinating stories attached.
The first seven lots of Dutch and Flemish Old Masters are from the collection of Paul Wertheimer. Acquired almost hundred years ago, Wertheimer brought the works to England when he fled Germany in 1938. Leading the group are 17th century panels attributed to Moses van Uyttenbroeck and Lucas van Uden, the latter a reduced copy of Rubens’ original in the Royal Collection (lots 1 & 4). Another early panel, a portrait of Cornelisz. Van Beresteyn, is by a follower of Michiel Jansz. van Miereveld (lot 9).
Works by fellow artists and friends Augustus John and Edgar Augustus ‘Loben’ Slade (lots 20-25) feature John’s early portrait of Loben and five works on paper by the lesser known Slade, nephew of the founder of the Slade School of Art, one of which is a watercolour of Jessie McNeill, John’s model, muse and mistress.
Also in the sale are seven works by Australian artists, including Jeffrey Smart, William Blamire Young and Leonard French, all from a private collection in Surrey (lots 30-36), and ten paintings from a Cheshire Collection that features the work of Helen Bradley, Edouard Cortes and Marcel Dyf together with bracing coastal views by Campbell Archibald Mellon (lots 40-48).
A small and fascinating work on paper is by Paul Nash. It captures the view of Harry Rocks off Ballard Down from Nash's flat in Swanage where he was living in the mid-1930s and which he incorporated into his Surrealist work ahead of the major Surrealist exhibition in London of 1936 (lot 27).
Beside the Lowry beach scene, other post-War works include an important early sculpture by James Tower (lot 52), a leading sculptor-ceramicist of his generation. Other post-War abstract works include examples by Frank Avray Wilson, James Hull and Etienne Beothy (lots 50, 51, 55 & 57).
For more information please contact us | pictures@olympiaauctions.com | +44 (0)20 7806 5541
Viewing
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
Sunday 7th June: 12pm - 4pm
Monday 8th June: 10am - 8pm (Drinks 5 - 8pm)
Tuesday 9th June: 10am - 5pm
