Bruce Beresford and Ermes De Zan on Jeffrey Smart

Join Jeffrey Smart’s partner, Ermes De Zan and former student and friend, filmmaker Bruce Beresford, in conversation with exhibition curators Dr Deborah Hart and Dr Rebecca Edwards, as they share personal insights into the artist’s life and work.

The National Gallery’s exhibition celebrated 100 years since Jeffrey Smart’s birth. The exhibition explores the artist’s working methods and the trajectory of his life from Adelaide to Sydney and to Italy, where he lived from 1964 until his death in 2013.

Following from the Curators' Introduction, this conversation further explores the artist’s life in Australia and Italy. From 1975, Smart and De Zan lived together at Posticcia Nuova, a beautiful old farmhouse near Arezzo in Tuscany. Their home was a meeting place for many friends and guests from Australia and around the world. De Zan, who was born in Italy but grew up in Australia, shared Smart’s passion for art, music and architecture. Oscar nominated filmmaker Beresford first met Smart as a student at Sydney’s The Kings School in the 1950s and later became a frequent visitor to Smart and De Zan’s Tuscan home until the artist’s death in 2013.

This accessible livestream conversation was presented in partnership with the American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia.

A recording of this event is available to view on our On Demand site here.