Jeffrey Smart Documentary
Directed by Catherine Hunter
One of Australia’s most celebrated artists, Jeffrey Smart sought inspiration from the world around him – looking to the environment of urban and industrial modernity – which he transformed through his imaginative sense of theatre and intimate understanding of geometry and composition. These potent and intriguing images have become emblematic of 20th and 21st century urban experience.
Written and directed by filmmaker Catherine Hunter, this documentary draws from Hunter’s rich archive to include footage of Smart working in his studio in Tuscany along with interviews with friends Clive James and David Malouf. Charting Smart’s artistic journey from the streets of Adelaide to Tuscany, Italy, archival footage is woven together with observations from National Gallery curators Deborah Hart and Rebecca Edwards as they prepare for the Gallery’s 2021 exhibition Jeffrey Smart, celebrating and commemorating one hundred years since Smart’s birth.
