The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (450 page)
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Authors: Ian Chilvers
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Sluyters , Jan
(1881–1957).
Dutch painter, one of the best-known artists in the Netherlands in the inter-war period, and the one in whom French modernism is most variously reflected. His early works show the influence of van
Gogh
and
Breitner
, and of
Toulouse-Lautrec
and
Matisse
. Like many other 20th-cent. painters he also experimented with
Cubism
. He finally worked out a lively personal style of colourful
Expressionism
which is best seen in his nudes—he had a predilection for painting nude children.
Dutch painter, one of the best-known artists in the Netherlands in the inter-war period, and the one in whom French modernism is most variously reflected. His early works show the influence of van
Gogh
and
Breitner
, and of
Toulouse-Lautrec
and
Matisse
. Like many other 20th-cent. painters he also experimented with
Cubism
. He finally worked out a lively personal style of colourful
Expressionism
which is best seen in his nudes—he had a predilection for painting nude children.
Smart , John
(1742/3–1811).
One of the leading British
miniaturists
of his period. His style was meticulous, bright, and pretty. He worked mainly in London but was in India 1785–
c.
1796.
One of the leading British
miniaturists
of his period. His style was meticulous, bright, and pretty. He worked mainly in London but was in India 1785–
c.
1796.
Smet , Gustave de
(1887–1943).
One of the leading Belgian
Expressionist
painters. His early work was
Impressionist
in style, but he was influenced towards Expressionism by Jan
Sluyters
and Henri
Le Fauconnier
, whom he met in Holland when he took refuge there during the First World War. Typically de Smet painted scenes of rural and village life in which forms are treated in a schematic way owing something to
Cubism
, and there is often an air of unreality reminiscent of that in
Chagall's
work (
Village Fair
, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Ghent,
c.
1930). His brother
Léon de Smet
(1881–1966) was also a painter.
One of the leading Belgian
Expressionist
painters. His early work was
Impressionist
in style, but he was influenced towards Expressionism by Jan
Sluyters
and Henri
Le Fauconnier
, whom he met in Holland when he took refuge there during the First World War. Typically de Smet painted scenes of rural and village life in which forms are treated in a schematic way owing something to
Cubism
, and there is often an air of unreality reminiscent of that in
Chagall's
work (
Village Fair
, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Ghent,
c.
1930). His brother
Léon de Smet
(1881–1966) was also a painter.
Smibert , John
(1688–1751).
Scottishborn portrait painter who emigrated to America in 1728 and settled in Boston in 1730. Previously he had travelled in Italy and practised successfully in London in an uninspired style derived from
Kneller
. After he settled in America his work became somewhat more vigorous. He brought with him a small collection of copies, casts, and engravings and opened a shop where he sold English engravings from the works of well-known artists. These, together with his own paintings, became the corner-stone of the New England Colonial portrait style, and Smibert encouraged the young
Copley
.
Scottishborn portrait painter who emigrated to America in 1728 and settled in Boston in 1730. Previously he had travelled in Italy and practised successfully in London in an uninspired style derived from
Kneller
. After he settled in America his work became somewhat more vigorous. He brought with him a small collection of copies, casts, and engravings and opened a shop where he sold English engravings from the works of well-known artists. These, together with his own paintings, became the corner-stone of the New England Colonial portrait style, and Smibert encouraged the young
Copley
.
Smith , David
(1906–65).
The most original and influential American sculptor of his generation. He began to study art at Ohio University in 1924 but soon dropped out of the course and in the summer of 1925 worked at the Studebaker motor plant at South Bend, Indiana, where he acquired the skills in metalwork that stood him in good stead later in his career. From 1926 to 1930 he studied painting at the
Art Students League
, New York, while supporting himself by a variety of jobs. Among his friends were Arshile
Gorky
and Willem
de Kooning
. He turned to sculpture in the early 1930s, making his first welded iron sculpture in 1933, although he always maintained that there was no essential difference between painting and sculpture and that although he owed his ‘technical liberation’ to Julio
González
, his aesthetic outlook was more influenced by
Kandinsky
,
Mondrian
, and
Cubism
. During the 1930s he was already doing sculpture of considerable originality, constructing compositions from steel and ‘found’ scrap, parts of agricultural machinery, etc. He had a love of technology, and wrote: ‘The equipment I use, my supply of material, comes from factory study, and duplicates as nearly as possible the production equipment used in making a locomotive …What associations the metal possesses are those of this century: power, structure, movement, progress, suspension, destruction, brutality.’
Smith settled at Bolton Landing, New York, in 1940. In the same year he exhibited a set of fifteen bronze
relief
plaques entitled
Medals of Dishonour
stigmatizing the prevalence of violence and greed throughout the world. After being employed as a welder on defence work, he returned to sculpture
c.
1945. His sculpture during the 1940s and 1950s was open and linear, like three-dimensional metal calligraphy. Perhaps the most noted work in this style is
Hudson River Landscape
(Whitney Mus., New York, 1951). From the end of the 1950s up to his death in a car accident he did the more structural and massive work for which he is best known, often working in series such as
Zig, Tank Totem, Agricola, Cubi, Voltri
. Although monumental and intended to be seen in the open, these last works—characteristically consisting of boxes and cylinders of polished metal—were not heavy but had an unstable, dynamic quality which contradicted their sense of density. They initiated a new era in American sculpture, ushering in the sort of objectivity that characterized
Post-Painterly Abstraction
.
The most original and influential American sculptor of his generation. He began to study art at Ohio University in 1924 but soon dropped out of the course and in the summer of 1925 worked at the Studebaker motor plant at South Bend, Indiana, where he acquired the skills in metalwork that stood him in good stead later in his career. From 1926 to 1930 he studied painting at the
Art Students League
, New York, while supporting himself by a variety of jobs. Among his friends were Arshile
Gorky
and Willem
de Kooning
. He turned to sculpture in the early 1930s, making his first welded iron sculpture in 1933, although he always maintained that there was no essential difference between painting and sculpture and that although he owed his ‘technical liberation’ to Julio
González
, his aesthetic outlook was more influenced by
Kandinsky
,
Mondrian
, and
Cubism
. During the 1930s he was already doing sculpture of considerable originality, constructing compositions from steel and ‘found’ scrap, parts of agricultural machinery, etc. He had a love of technology, and wrote: ‘The equipment I use, my supply of material, comes from factory study, and duplicates as nearly as possible the production equipment used in making a locomotive …What associations the metal possesses are those of this century: power, structure, movement, progress, suspension, destruction, brutality.’
Smith settled at Bolton Landing, New York, in 1940. In the same year he exhibited a set of fifteen bronze
relief
plaques entitled
Medals of Dishonour
stigmatizing the prevalence of violence and greed throughout the world. After being employed as a welder on defence work, he returned to sculpture
c.
1945. His sculpture during the 1940s and 1950s was open and linear, like three-dimensional metal calligraphy. Perhaps the most noted work in this style is
Hudson River Landscape
(Whitney Mus., New York, 1951). From the end of the 1950s up to his death in a car accident he did the more structural and massive work for which he is best known, often working in series such as
Zig, Tank Totem, Agricola, Cubi, Voltri
. Although monumental and intended to be seen in the open, these last works—characteristically consisting of boxes and cylinders of polished metal—were not heavy but had an unstable, dynamic quality which contradicted their sense of density. They initiated a new era in American sculpture, ushering in the sort of objectivity that characterized
Post-Painterly Abstraction
.
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