Richard Smith

Richard Smith CBE (1931 - 2016) was an English painter and printmaker who was a student at the Royal College at the same time as Peter Blake and Joe Tilson and thus joined the advance guard of Pop Artists. Although English by birth and training, his influences are derived from the American Art scene, so much so that Richard Smith has lived much of his life in the States.

An abstract painter first and foremost, who indulged in graphic forms underlined by rich colour and tone, he is also an established print maker having made prints in most mediums. He made a series of monotypes with Hugh Stoneman and Alan Cox in Penzance, which are large jewel-like coloured images, so fluid that they shimmer like watercolours. The variations in colour and form are both delicious and a delight to look at. Smith also produced a collection of etchings with Stoneman in 1997.

His work is held in the public collections of the Arts Council England; The British Museum, London; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Tate, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; MIT, Boston; Philadelphia Museum.