ERIC SMITH – Australian Artist
| 1919 | Born in Brunswick, Melbourne |
| 1936 | Joins Contemporary Arts Society, Melbourne |
| 1936-1938 | Brunswick Technical College, Commercial Art and Painting, Melbourne |
| 1936-1938 | Designs silverware and badges at Stokes, Melbourne |
| 1936-1938 | Designs dresses for Myer, Melbourne |
| 1938 | Begins Oil Painting |
| 1939 | Joins Victorian Artist’s Society, Melbourne |
| 1940-1945 | Serves in the Australian Army |
| 1945 | Runner-up in the Archibald Prize with ‘Self Portrait’ painted on Army canvass |
| 1946 | Marries Dorothea Joy Darcy (Joy) |
| 1947-1951 | Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Diploma of Painting |
| 1952 | Moves to Sydney |
| 1956 | Participates in landmark abstract and abstract expressionist exhibition ‘Direction 1’ in Sydney |
| 1958 - Present | Lives and works in Woollahra, Sydney |
| 1960's | Teaches part-time Drawing and Painting at the University of New South Wales and St George Technical College, Sydney |
| 1961 | Participates in ‘Sydney 9’ exhibition in Sydney and Melbourne (counter to the Antipodeans) |
| 1963 | Travels to England and Europe |
| 2017 | Died on 20 February, Sydney, aged 97 years |
| Solo Exhibitions | |
| 1949 | Tye’s Gallery, Melbourne (Joint exhibition with Edward Fewster) |
| 1950 | Tye’s Gallery, Melbourne |
| 1953 | Macquarie Galleries, Sydney |
| 1953 | Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne |
| 1954 | John Martin’s Gallery, Adelaide |
| 1955 | Macquarie Galleries, Sydney |
| 1961 | David Jones, Sydney |
| 1963 | Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney |
| 1964 | Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney |
| 1964 | Georges Gallery, Melbourne |
| 1965 | Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney |
| 1967 | Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney |
| 1969 | Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney |
| 1970 | Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney |
| 1973 | Rudy Komon Gallery and Watters Gallery, Sydney |
| 1975 | Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney |
| 1975 | Toorak Gallery, Melbourne |
| 1978 | Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney |
| 1980 | David Reid Gallery, Sydney |
| 1982 | Rudy Komon Gallery, Sydney |
| 1988 | Barry Stern Gallery, Sydney |
| 1989 | Artmet Gallery, Sydney |
| 2009 | Global Gallery, Sydney |
| Group Exhibitions (Selected) | |
| 1940 | Contemporary Art Society |
| 1945 | ‘Australia at War’ Exhibition |
| 1949 | Tye’s Gallery, Melbourne |
| 1949-1955 | Victorian Artists’ Society Group Shows, Melbourne |
| 1951 | Tye’s Gallery, Melbourne |
| 1952-1965 | Contemporary Art Society Group Shows, Sydney |
| 1953-1956 | Sydney Group (yearly show), Sydney |
| 1954 | ‘Artists by Artists’ Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney |
| 1954 | ‘Flower & Art’ Bissietta Gallery, Sydney |
| 1955 | ‘The Show of Sixes’ Macquarie Galleries, Sydney |
| 1955 | Loan Exhibition, Contemporary Australian Painting, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney |
| 1956 | ‘Direction 1’ Macquarie Galleries, Sydney |
| 1959 | Joint exhibition with Architect Neville Gruzman, Blaxland Gallery, Sydney |
| 1959 | Australian Landscape Exhibition, Blaxland Gallery, Sydney |
| 1960 | Terry Clune Galleries, Sydney |
| 1961 | ‘Sydney Nine’ David Jones, Sydney |
| 1961 | ‘15 Contemporary Australian Painters’ New Vision Centre, London |
| 1961 | ‘Australian Artists Exhibition’ Raymond Burr Galleries, Los Angeles |
| 1963 | ‘Australian Painting’ Tate Gallery, London UK |
| 1969 | Third Print Prize Exhibition, Australia (travelled nationally) |
| 1986 | Face to Face: Australian Portraits AGNSW Travelling Exhibition |
| 1991 | New Directions 1952-1962, Lewers Bequest and Penrith Regional Art Gallery, Sydney |
| 1997 | Wynne Prize Centenary, Turkish Bath Museum Mount Wilson, Sydney |
| 2013 | 'Great and Small' Peter Pinson Gallery, Sydney |
| Awards | |
| 1962 | Helena Rubenstein Travelling Art Scholarship |
| 1995 | Australia Council Emeritus Award |
| Commissions | |
| 1955 | Mosaic Mural, Glass/Wood Screen and Terrazzo Floor Design, Purnell Motors, Arncliffe Sydney |
| 1958 | Mosaics and Stained Glass, South Head and District Synagogue, Rose Bay Sydney |
| 1959 | Windows, St Paul’s College, University of Sydney |
| 1959 | Mural, Berrima Court House (Painting) |
| 1959 | Mural, ICI Building, Sydney (Mosaic) |
| 1968 | Glass Screen, Gregory & Carr Funeral Chapel, Mona Vale Sydney |
| 1969 | Posters on the Apostles Creed, The Living Parish Series, Sydney |
| 2010 | Side Windows, St Paul's College, Sydney University |
| Prizes | |
| 1944 | Australia at War, War on Land Prize |
| 1948 | Catholic Centenary Art Prize |
| 1948 | CRTS Shell Company Prize |
| 1948 | CRTS Norman Bros Prize |
| 1950 | Victorian Artists’ Society, ‘60 Drawings’ Herald Prize |
| 1953 | Sulman Prize |
| 1953 | Berrima Art Prize (Mural) |
| 1955 | Contemporary Art Society |
| 1955 | Contemporary Art Society, Madach Prize |
| 1955 | Adelaide Advertiser Prize |
| 1956 | Blake Prize |
| 1956 | Bathurst Art Prize |
| 1958 | Blake Prize |
| 1959 | Blake Prize |
| 1960 | Journalists’ Club Prize |
| 1962 | Blake Prize |
| 1962 | RAS Easter Show Prize |
| 1965 | Roy H. Taffs Contemporary Art Society Award |
| 1967 | Darcy Morris Memorial Prize |
| 1969 | Blake Prize |
| 1969 | RAS Easter Show, Portrait Prize |
| 1970 | Archibald Prize |
| 1970 | Blake Prize (Shared) |
| 1972 | Wynne Prize |
| 1973 | Sulman Prize |
| 1974 | Wynne Prize |
| 1975 | Muswellbrook Art Prize |
| 1981 | Archibald Prize |
| 1982 | Archibald Prize |
| 2003 | Sulman Prize |
| Collections | |
| National Portrait Gallery, Canberra | |
| Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney | |
| National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne | |
| Art Gallery of Queensland, Brisbane | |
| Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide | |
| Bendigo Regional Gallery, Victoria | |
| Geelong Regional Gallery, Victoria | |
| Rockhampton Regional Gallery, Queensland | |
| Penrith Regional Gallery, Sydney | |
| University of New South Wales, Sydney | |
| University of Sydney, Sydney | |
| Southern Cross University | |
| Canisius College, Pymble | |
| St Patricks, Manly | |
| State Bank | |
| James Fairfax Esq. | |
| Harold E Metz Collection | |
| Raymond Burr Galleries, USA | |
| Other Private Collections | |
| Bibliography (Selected) | |
| Australian Oil Painting in AGNSW 1875-1952, Bernard Smith 1952. | |
| Artists by Artists: Portraits of Australian Artists by Themselves and Others, AGNSW 1954. | |
| Antipodean Vision; Australian Painting, Colonial, Impressionist and Contemporary, Commonwealth Advisory Board Melbourne 1962. | |
| New Painting 1952-1962, John Reed, Longmans 1963. | |
| Australian Painters 1964-1966, Contemporary Australian Painting from the Metz Collection, Adelaide, Ross Luck, Griffin Press 1967. | |
| Religious Art in Australia, Hilde Knorr, Longmans 1967. | |
| Renniks Australian Artists, John Kroeger, Renniks and Co 1968. | |
| Looking Back, travelling exhibition 1975 Melbourne, NGV in association with the Arts Council of Australia Victoria Division 1975. | |
| The Most Noble Art of Them All, Laurie Thomas, University of Queensland Press 1976. | |
| The Australian Landscape and its Artists, Elwyn Lynn, Bay Books 1977. | |
| Contemporary Australian Drawing, WAAG 1978. | |
| Modern Australian Painting 1950-1975, Kym Bonython, Rigby 1980. | |
| Modern Australian Painting 1975-1980, Kym Bonython, Rigby 1980. | |
| Charles Bannon ‘Australian Printmaker’ an aspect of Australian Art 1968-1982, David Dolan, Angus and Robertson 1982. | |
| The Blake Prize for Religious Art – the first 25 years; A Survey, Rosemary Crumlin, Monash University 1984. | |
| Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Alan McCulloch, Hutchinson Australia 1984. | |
| Artists and Galleries of Australia, Max Germaine, Boolarong Press 1984. | |
| Art and Australia: Direction 1, Vol 24 No 4 Winter 1987, The Fine Arts Press. | |
| Images of Religion in Australian Art, Rosemary Crumlin, Bay Books 1988. | |
| New Directions 1952-1962, Christine France, Lewers Bequest and Penrith Regional Gallery 1991. | |
| Let’s Face It: The History of the Archibald Prize, Peter Ross, AGNSW 1999. | |
| The Blake Book - Art, Religion and Spirituality, Rosemary Crumlin, Macmillian Art Publishing 2011 | |