John Firth-Smith - Artist Profile - Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery

John Firth-Smith

John Firth-Smith, 2009

John Firth-Smith, 2005

John Firth-Smith, 2003

John Firth-Smith, 2001

	JOHN FIRTH-SMITH

	Born 1943 Melbourne
1945-52	Lived in New Zealand
1961	Studied National Art School, Sydney
1971	Visited Northern Europe and worked in New York, USA
1982	Visited USA, worked in New York
1983	Artist in Residence, Melbourne University
1985	Samoa
1989	Visited northern Europe lived and worked in New York. Extensive travelling from New York to Maine, Return via Sarawak, Malaysia
1991	Tutor, International Art Workshop, Omaru, New Zealand
1992-93	Travels to West Africa, Paris and New York
2000	Travels to Easter Island, Mexico & Egypt
2003	Travels Fiji Islands
	SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2006	“The New York Works, A Survey”, Embassy of Australia, Washington DC
2005	Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
2003	Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
2002	Lister Calder Gallery, Western Australia Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne
2001	Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
1999	“John Firth-Smith: A Voyage that Never Ends” (book launch and exhibition), Roslyn OxIey9 Gallery, Sydney
1998	Roslyn OxIey9 Gallery, Sydney
1996	Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
1994	Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
1993	Roslyn OxIey9 Gallery, Sydney
1992	“Work on Paper: 1982-1992,” Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
1990	Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney “New Lithographs,” Australian Galleries, Melbourne
1988	Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
1987	Gallery 52, Perth “In and On” (lithographs), Blaxland Gallery, Sydney
1986	Powell St Gallery, Melbourne
1984	“Inspiration and Reality,” University of Melbourne
1983	Gallery 52, Perth, Western Australia Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane “Bottle and Boat” (lithographs), Roslyn OxIey9 Gallery, Sydney
1982	“Works from New York,” Axion Gallery, Melbourne “Works from New York,” Gallery A, Sydney
1981	Gallery A, Sydney Bonython Art Gallery, Adelaide
1979	Gallery A, Sydney Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
1978	Bonython Art Gallery, Adelaide
1977	Gallery A, Sydney Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane
1976	Ray Hughes Gallery, Brisbane Realities Gallery, Melbourne
1975	Gallery A, Sydney
1973	Gallery A, Sydney
1972	Gallery A, Sydney
1970	Gallery A, Sydney
1969	Gallery A, Sydney and Melbourne
1966	Gallery A, Sydney and Melbourne
	GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2008	“Harbourlife, Sydney Harbour from the 1940s to recent times”, Macquarie University Art Gallery, Sydney, curated by Gavin Wilson
2006	“Stolen Ritual”, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
2005	“Fireworks,” Mackay Artspace touring exhibition, New South Wales, Queensland, and Victorian regional galleries “Landscape Now,” Solander Gallery, Canberra “Hill End Scenes, People or Objects,” Inaugural Exhibition, NPWS Gallery, Hill End
2004	“Spectrum 2004,” FONAS, National Art School, Sydney
2003	“The Year in Art,” S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney “Australian Masters,” Solander Gallery, Canberra “Beneath the Monsoon,” Touring Regional Galleries, Queensland
2002	“Fifty Years of Abstraction,” Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne “Points of View,” University of Technology Sydney Art Collection, UTS, Sydney “The First 20 Years,” Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
2001	“MCA Unpacked” Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
1999	“Silver,” Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney “Fabric of Labour,” BulIe Gallery, Melbourne `Three Generations,” Solander Gallery, Canberra
1998	“Escape Artists: Modernists in the Tropics,” Cairns Regional Gallery & travelling, QLD, NSW and VIC Axia Modern Art Opening Exhibition, Melbourne Australian Printmaking in the 1990's: Artist printmakers 1990-95, (exhibition and Sasha Grishin book launch), Sherman Galleries, Sydney
1997	“Swingtime Eastcoast- Westcoast: Works from the I 960s-70s in the University of Western Australia Art Collection,” University of WA, Perth
1995	“The Artists of Hill End”, Art Gallery of New South Wales & travelling New South Wales “Asia and Oceania Influence,” Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney “Contemporary Australian Art,” Kuala Lumpur “Selection of Australian Works,” Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
1994	“Modern Australian Paintings,” Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne
1992	“Australian Masters”, Solander Gallery, Canberra “Works on Paper”, R.M.I.T., Mebourne “Synthesis 6: Art & Architecture” (with Lawrence Neild), Sydney 1988 “Australian Masters”, Solander Gallery, Canberra
1987	“Surface for Reflection”, Art Gallery of New South Wales & travelling NSW “Australian Painters & Sculptors”, Saitama, Japan Museum of Contemporary Art, Brisbane (inaugural exhibition)
1986	“A Resistant Spirit”, Roslyn OxIey9 Gallery, Sydney & Realities Gallery, Melbourne
1984	“New Work”, Powell Street Gallery
1983	“Abstract Art in Australia”, R.M.I.T. Gallery Melbourne Five Sydney Painters “The Wrong Place”, University of Tasmania Art Gallery, Hobart “Twelve Australian Painters”, Art Gallery of Western Australia Perspecta `83, Art Gallery of New South Wales Commonwealth Bank Contemporary Artists Exhibition, Sydney “Prix de Monaco” Exhibition, Monte Carlo
1982	`Sydney Harbour Bridge 1932-1 982', Art Gallery of New South Wales Betty Cuningham Gallery, New York - with Lesley Dumbrell Invited “Structures” Newcastle Region Art Gallery Invited Inaugural Singleton Art Prize `Anzas 82' Macquarie University, NSW Group Exhibition, Darwin Art Gallery Northern Territory of works executed at Artists Camp, Kakadu National Park Northern Territory `Landscape Now', Solander Gallery, Canberra ACT
1981	`LIS `81', International Exhibition of Drawings, Lisbon Portugal `Survey 16' National Gallery of Victoria; and at Penrith Art Gallery and Lewers Bequest Museum, Penrith, New South Wales `Survey of the Seventies' Bendigo Art Gallery, Victoria
1980	Summer Exhibition, Gallery A, Sydney
1979	`LIS `79', International Exhibition of Drawings, Lisbon & Opporto, Portugal
1978	`Contemporary Australian Art to Indonesia - Landscape and Image `Water Works', Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education, Sydney
1977	Group Show, Gallery A, Sydney `Australian Colourists `77', Western Australian Institute of Technology, Perth
1976	Included `Artists Films', touring Europe and USA
1975	Joint exhibition with Tony Tuckson, Monash University, Melbourne `Ten Australians' Gallery A, Sydney `The Ocean' Expo `75, Okinawa, Japan
1974	Included `Artists Films', Art Gallery of New South Wales `Return to Sender' Exhibition, Florence, Italy `Ten Australians' - Paris Stuttgart, Venice, Milan, Florence Invited William Angliss Prize, Melbourne
1973	Invited Biennale de Paris, France `Contemporary Australian Painting and Sculpture', New Zealand `The Biennale of Sydney' Opera House, Sydney
1972	Included in `Twenty Years of Australian Painting', London, UK Group Exhibition with Michael Johnson and Andrew NoIt, Gallery A, Sydney Invited Georges Prize, Melbourne
1970	Invited First Leasing Prize, Melbourne Invited Georges Prize, Melbourne
1969	“Japanese Forum Exhibition”, Tokyo, Japan
1968	`Group 2', Gallery A, Sydney and Melbourne
1967	`New Generation Sydney', Gallery A, Melbourne
1966	Invited Helena Rubenstein Travelling Scholarship `Survey 6', Blaxland Gallery, Sydney `Australian Young Contemporaries' exhibition, Perth
1965	`Survey 5', Blaxland Gallery, Sydney
1964	`Survey 4', Blaxland Gallery, Sydney
1963	Joint Exhibition with Ian Van Wieringen, Hungry Horse Gallery, Sydney
1962	Joint exhibition with Ian Van Wieringen, Clune Galleries, Sydney
	COLLECTIONS
	ALCOA Pty Ltd, USA ANZ Bank, Commission, Melbourne Art Gallery of New South Wales Art Gallery of South Australia Art Gallery of Western Australia Australian National Gallery, Canberra Artbank BHP Collection, Melbourne Bathurst Art Gallery, New South Wales Broken Hill City Art Gallery, New South Wales C.B.A. Bank, Sydney Commonwealth Loan Collection Curtin University Collection, Perth Dalby Art Gallery, Queensland Geelong Art Gallery, Victoria Georges Limited, Melbourne Grafton City Council, New South Wales McGregor Collection, Toowoomba, Queensland Mildura Arts Centre, Victoria Monash University Collection, Melbourne National Bank of Australia National Gallery of Victoria Newcastle Region Art Gallery Philip Morris Collection, Melbourne Power Gallery, University of Sydney Qantas Airways Collection, Sydney Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane Shepparton Art Gallery, Victoria Sydney Morning Herald Collection Tarrawarra Museum of Art, Victoria TownsvilIe City Gallery, Queensland University of Melbourne Collection University of Western Australia Visual Arts Board, Australia Council Windsor Council, New South Wales Artbank Collection Private Collections in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Europe and Asia
	BIBLIOGRAPHY
2006	Anita Angel, John Firth-Smith: From Here to There, Press 8, Surry Hills, Sydney
2005	Sunanda Creagh, “Open Gallery: John Firth-Smith,” Sydney Morning Herald (Spectrum: Visual Arts), July 30-31, p. 29 John McDonald, “Opposites Impact,” Sydney Morning Herald (Spectrum: Visual Arts), July 9-10, p. 28 - 29 Amanda Rowell, “John Firth-Smith: Expanded Horizon”, exh. cat., Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
2003	Jacki Roberts, “World renowned artists on show at new Hill End Gallery”, http://www3.environment.nsw.gov.au Amanda Hooton, “Two of Us: John Firth-Smith and Danelle Bergstrom,” (interviewed), Good Weekend, Sydney Morning Herald Magazine, August 2, 2003, p. 14 Mirjana Kos-Noskovic, “Maritime Painting and Meaning in the Abstract Work of John Firth-Smith,” dissertation, University of New South Wales, Sydney
2002	Points of View (exh. cat.), University of Technology Sydney Art Collection, UTS, Sydney, p. 52,53 Anna Gray, Australian Art in the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
2001	Clara Mason, “Introduction,” Seawrack & Seaspawn: Scripts and Contextualisation for Bloomsday in Melbourne, Bloomsday in Melbourne Inc. Committee, Port Melbourne, Victoria Barry Pearce, et al., Australian Art in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
2000	Australian Painting Now eds. Laura Murray Cree and Nevill Drury, Craftsman House, Sydney
1999	Gavin Wilson, John Firth-Smith: A Voyage that Never Ends, monograph, Fine Arts Press, Sydney Gavin Wilson, Escape Artists: Modernists in the Tropics (exh. cat.), Cairns Regional Gallery, Queensland Janet Hawley, “Water world,” Good Weekend, December 18 Andrew Frost, “Australia's 50 Most Collectable Artists,” Australian Art Collector, Issue 7, Jan-Mar, p 35, Illustrated
1998	John McDonald, “Painting dead? The picture's not so bleak,” The Sydney Morning Herald, pl 4s, July 18
1997	Sasha Grishin, Australian Printmaking in the 1990's: Artist printmakers 1990-95, Craftsman House John Firth-Smith, “A pitch black sea for me,” The Sydney Morning Herald, January 20
1996	John McDonald, “Becoming what one is,” Sydney Morning Herald, p 12, October 26 Brook Turner, “Sea Change,” Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, p 15, October 19 G.E. DaI Pont, Lawyers' Professional Responsibility in Australia and New Zealand, Law Book Company, Sydney (book cover)
1995	Gavin Wilson, The Artists of Hill End, Beagle Press and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1994	Terence Maloon, “A Matter of Metamorphosis,” Art and Australia, Vol. 31, No. 3, p 366 - 371, Illustrated Bruce James, “Sea Pictures,” Australian Business Monthly, May, pp 130 - 135, Illustrated
1993	Elwyn Lynn, “Primitive cool hints at maze of the mind,” The Weekend Australian, Aug 21-22
1990	Elwyn Lynn, “Feeling abstracted from form and colour,” The Weekend Australian, Oct 13 -14 Terence Maloon, catalogue introduction, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, September
1989	John McDonald, “Pattern Play,” Vogue Living, February, Illustrated
1988	Elwyn Lynn, “From the sublime to the meticulous,” The Weekend Australian, Sept 17-18, p 12
1984	James F. Walker, “Australia”, Artscribe, January, Illustrated p34-35 and Text
1983	Christopher Coventry (curator), The Wrong Place: Five Sydney Painters, University of Tasmania, Catalogue Notes and Illustration, p. 4 Tony Bond, Twelve Australian Painters, A.G.W.A. Catalogue, Notes and Illustration pp. 14-15 Abstract Art in Australia, R.M.I.T. Catalogue, August, Illustrated with interview pp. 113 -124 Philip Morris Arts Grant Catalogue, Illustrated p. 32 Lily Brett, “The Painter The Artists Admire,” P01 April, Illustrated p. 50-54
1982	Lilian Wood (ed), Directory of Australian Painters, Notes and Illustration, p. 15 The Seventies, National Bank Collection Catalogue, Illustration and Notes, p. 51
1981	Paul McGillick - Exhibition Catalogue Introduction, Gallery A Exhibition, Illustrated Robert Lindsay, Survey 16, National Gallery of Victoria, catalogue text and illustrations
1980	Kim Bonython, Modern Australian Painting 1975-1980, Rigby Ltd., Adelaide, Illustrated p. 37 Pam Bell” ... like a gentle whale following the current ...“, Hemisphere, Vol. 24, No. 1, Illustrated, p. 44
1979	Aspect - Interview, Vol 4, No. 3, Illustrated
1976	Kim Bonython, Modern Australian Painting 19 70-1975, Rigby, Adelaide
1975	Patrick McCaughey, Tuckson, Firth-Smith, Monash University Catalogue, Illustrated
1974	Janine Burke, Art and Australia, Vol 12, pp. 72-81 Patrick McCaughey, Ten Australians catalogue, Europe exhibition
1970	Kim Bonython, Modern Australian Painting 1960-1970, Rigby, Adelaide
1969	Mervyn Horton, Present Day Art in Australia, Ure Smith, Sydney
1968	Alan McCulloch, Encyclopaedia of Australia Art, Hutchinson & Co., London
1967	`Young Australian Artists,' Chance Magazine, No. 4
1964	Daniel Thomas, `Young Painters in Australia,' Hemisphere, April
	AWARDS
1978	Sydney Morning Herald Art Prize Civic Permanent Art Award, Canberra Broken Hill Art Prize
1977	Bathurst Art Prize Dalby Art Prize Capital Permanent Award, Geelong Art Gallery
1975	McCaughey Memorial Prize, Melbourne
1974	Townsville Art Prize (Purchase)
1972	Grafton Art Prize (Purchase) Georges Art Prize (Purchase)
1968	Young Contemporaries Royal Easter Show - Modern
1964	Young Contemporaries `B'Section Mirror-Waratah Under 22 Years Contemporary
1963	Young Contemporaries `B'Section
1962	Mirror-Waratah Under 22 Years Contemporary
	COMMISSIONS
2000	Macquarie Apartments, Sydney, designed by Renzo Piano, painting
1998	Deutsche Bank, Australia Square, Sydney, painting
1997	Landmark Hotel, Kings Cross, Sydney, painting
1993	Governor Phillip Tower, Sydney, designed by Denton Corker Marshall, commissioned by DCM Design for Sumitomo Tenancy, painting
1992	ANA Hotel foyer, Sydney
1988	State Bank, Sydney, painting
1987	New Parliament House Tapestry design, Canberra Convention Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney, painting Hyatt Hotel Adelaide, painting Monash Hospital Art Foundation, painting
1981	Mural, 6 x 6Cm, commissioned by l.M. Pei for ANZ Bank Head Office, Collins Street, Melbourne. Building designed by I.M. Pei. Tapestry of “Key”, commissioned by Gallery A, executed by Victorian Tapestry Workshop.
1980	National Capital Permanent Development Commission for Family Law Courts, Canberra Also completed several private commissions for domestic interiors
	FILM BY ARTIST
1973	“From Here to There” 16mm, Black & White
	FILMS ON ARTIST
1980	“The Big Painter”, Film about ANZ Bank Commission, Melbourne, 30 mins “Ten Australians” (John Firth-Smith), Film by ABC Produced by Dale McRae, 30 mins.
1975	Target, A.B.C., John Firth-Smith, 20 mins