1919-2020 → Best known for his monumental, modernist abstractions of the West Coast landscape, Vancouver-based artist Gordon Smith played a pivotal role in the evolution of Canadian art throughout the 20th century. His expansive body of work, which spanned over 75 years, includes paintings, prints, and sculptures that reflect his ongoing dialogue between the natural world and the language of abstraction.
His artwork was constantly evolving. In the 1950s, Smith’s art was defined by stark, grid-like compositions. His later work explored sweeping horizontal bands, invoking the expansive vistas of the West Coast landscape. Smith’s gestural approach became more pronounced after the 1980s, moving toward a romantic lyric abstraction that balanced his deep connection to nature with his non-objective, expressive manner of painting. He was always conscious of the international style of the time in which he lived, but he applied it to and embraced the place and wilderness of BC.
A consummate educator and philanthropist, Smith’s influence extended beyond his artistic practice. As a teacher and mentor at the University of British Columbia (UBC), he inspired generations of artists and supported local art initiatives. His restless pursuit of new forms and styles, from color field works informed by the theories of Joseph Albers to semi-abstract depictions of Vancouver’s seascapes, reflects a life of constant reinvention. Smith’s work remained a vibrant exploration of the relationship between paint, surface, and the essence of the land, always searching for balance between the cerebral and the emotional, the abstract and the real.
After studying at the Winnipeg School of Art and the Vancouver School of Art (now Emily Carr University) with contemporaries Bruno Bobak, B.C. Binning and Jack Shadbolt, he served in the military during World War II, where he was injured during the invasion of Sicily. Upon returning to Vancouver, Smith had his first solo exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1944 and went on to teach at the Vancouver School of Art and later at UBC, where he shaped the next generation of artists for over 25 years.
Smith’s teaching career was complemented over the years by several major retrospectives at the Vancouver Art Gallery and over 25 solo exhibitions. He was also involved in public art commissions, including work for Expo 70 with well-known BC architect Arthur Erickson in Osaka, Japan, Canada House in London, and Simon Fraser University and The Chan Centre for the Arts, among others. He continued to exhibit new work until 2018.
He was a tireless advocate for arts education and a generous champion of emerging artists. He supported younger artists not only through the foundations and charities he contributed to but also in buying and displaying their artwork. He supported his fellow artists as well, collecting their work and helping to fund their exhibitions and catalogues. In 1989, he co-founded the Artists for Kids Foundation, which focused on providing arts education to children, and in 2002 established the Gordon and Marion Smith Foundation for Young Artists. He also left a lasting legacy with the opening of the Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art in 2012. Over the course of his life, Smith received numerous awards, including the Order of Canada, the Governor General’s Award, and the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement. His work is held in major collections, including the Vancouver Art Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. Smith’s generosity and humility, combined with his artistic vision, have made him one of Canada’s most beloved figures in the arts. He passed away in 2020 at the age of 100.
“I literally paint six hours a day, but it doesn’t just happen there. I think about it in the morning when I get up, I dream about it, I think about it all the time. I see something that starts to trigger ideas. I’m tired most of the time but when I’m painting, I’m never tired, because I’ve got that wonderful dialogue with the paint.” Quote from Gordon A. Smith Obituary, The Vancouver Sun and Province, Feb 1, 2020. https://vancouversunandprovince.remembering.ca/obituary/gordon-smith-1078346914
“Current major forces, both in education and in our society, tend to ignore the value and contribution of art. We must, more than ever, support and encourage the arts in everyday life.” One of Smith’s most famous quotes, Iconic West Vancouver Artist Gordon Smith Dies at 100, Janet Smith, The Georgia Straight, Jan 19, 2020. https://www.straight.com/arts/1348836/iconic-canadian-artist-gordon-smith-dies-100
“Good painters never forget what they know; they simply find new ways to make that knowledge work. That is the real mystery of painting, and Gordon is the art form’s consummate wizard. In his wake, he leaves no trace of the struggle; only the entangled grace of his having passed by.” Quote from Robert Enright article on Smith’s artistic practice in 2012, Gordon A. Smith Obituary, The Vancouver Sun and Province, Feb 1, 2020, 2012. https://vancouversunandprovince.remembering.ca/obituary/gordon-smith-1078346914
For all you deep art divers out there.
If you have 15 minutes this is worth a watch: The Life and Legacy of Gordon A. Smith
And this one too, also 15 minutes: Gordon A. Smith: A History
Gordon and Marion Smith Foundation for Young Artists website, includes the Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art
Artists for Kids website
The Gordon Smith House (architect Arthur Erickson) + It’s Restoration
The Canadian Art Preservation Foundation posts short biographies and information on artists and artwork from its collection in a not-so-subtle attempt to capture your attention and interest in our mission, but we also just want to keep this artwork in view. We are excited about the art we collect and want to share it with you. CAPF is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the artwork of Canada’s superstar artists for future generations to examine, study and exhibit – the ones you know and the ones you might not know so well. We accept artwork, journals, notes, letters, exhibition catalogues and anything else that might comprise a visual and/or intellectual “portrait” (ahem, please pardon the pun) of a particular artist.
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