Richard Smith was born in Hertfordshire, England, in 1931. He trained at Luton School of Art, the St Albans School of Art and the Royal College of Art, London, before receiving a scholarship to live and work in New York. Smith arrived in New York in 1959 and, aside from a two-year teaching tenure at St Martin’s School of Art in London, has since made the United States his base. Though he has been aligned with Minimalism, Pop Art and the Situationist Group, Smith’s work is essentially characterised by his investigations into the fundamental nature of colour and form.
His Field and streams series, in which shapes of various colours are presented entangled against pure white paper, demonstrates this preoccupation. The series was created at Tyler Graphics in 1982.
Emilie Owens
1931
Born in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
1948-50
Attends Luton School of Art, Luton
1950-52
Serves in Royal Air Force, Hong Kong
1952-54
Attends St. Albans School of Art, Hertfordshire
1954-57
Attends Royal College of Art, London
1957
Included in exhibition, New trends in British art, New York Art Foundation, Rome, Italy
1961-63
Teaches at St. Martin’s School of Art, London
1961
First solo exhibition, Green Gallery, New York
1962
Included in travelling exhibition, British art today, originating at San Francisco Museum of Art, California
1965
Included in travelling exhibition, London: the new scene, originating at Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
1966
Included in Venice biennale, Italy, and receives the Mr and Mrs Robert C Scull Award; solo exhibitions at Whitechapel Gallery, London; Richard Feigen Gallery, New York; Jewish Museum, New York; included in travelling exhibition, Aspects of British art, originating at Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
1967
Included in São Paulo Bienal, Brazil, and receives Grand Prize
1970
Included in Venice biennale, Italy
1976
Receives first prize at British international print biennial, Bradford Galleries and Museums, Bradford, England
1978
Travelling solo exhibition, Richard Smith, recent work 1972-1977: paintings, drawings and graphics, Hayden Gallery, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge Moves to New York
1979
Solo exhibition, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
1980
Completes Cartouche Series of wall hangings at Tyler Graphics Ltd, Bedford Village, New York
1982
Completes Field and Streams Series of mixed media prints at Tyler Graphics Ltd
1984
Included in exhibition, Prints from Tyler Graphics, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
1985
Included in travelling exhibition, Pop Art: 1955-1970, organised by the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and shown at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
1986
Included in exhibition, Forty Years of Modern Art, 1945-1985, Tate Gallery, London
1987
Included in travelling exhibition, British Art in the 20th century, originating at Royal Academy of Art, London
1991
Included in travelling exhibition, Pop Art, originating at Royal Academy of Art, London
1993
Included in exhibition, The sixties art scene in London, Barbican Art Gallery, London
2004
Included in exhibition, Art from the ‘60s – this was tomorrow, Tate Britain, London
2005
Included in the exhibition, Stroll on! Aspects of British abstract art in the sixties, Musée d’Art Modern et Contemporain (MAMCO), Geneva, Switzerland
Richard Smith currently lives and works in New York.
© Tyler Graphics Ltd; revised Emilie Owens, 2007
This chronology provides an overview of selected biographical information, major solo and group exhibitions held within the artist's own lifetime.
