Alfred SMITH, born in Bordeaux in 1854 and died in Paris in 1936, was a French post-impressionist painter.
His work has sometimes been compared to that of Claude Monet.
André Alfred Smith of Strasbourg was born in Bordeaux on July 30, 1854. His father was Welsh, naturalized French, and his mother was the daughter of a notary in Saint-Ciers-sur-Gironde. In 1869 his father left the family home and went to make his fortune in the United States. So at the age of 15, Alfred and his older brother, Emmanuel, found themselves breadwinners. Alfred worked in a bank as a stockbroker's clerk, but he wanted to become an artist and spent all his free time painting.
In 1877 he exhibited his paintings for the first time at the Salon of the Society of Friends of the Arts in Bordeaux, where the catalog indicated that his master was Hippolyte Pradelles. He remained faithful to this salon and exhibited at least one painting every year until his death in 1936.
The painter Alfred Roll noticed him and helped him to promote his artistic work. The two men became friends and Alfred Smith was the executor of Roll's estate after his death in 1919.
In 1880 Smith participated in the Paris Salon, receiving an honorable mention, and attended the studio of Léonce Chabry. He also became a professor at the Bordeaux School of Fine Arts.
In 1883, his painting Le Quai de Bacalan, le Soir (The Quay of Bacalan, the Evening) was exhibited at the Paris Salon and he entered the studio of Amédée Baudit.
In the years 1884-1890 Smith began to be recognized. He received medals at the salons of Versailles, Nice, French artists, the Paris World Fair, etc. In 1886 he was able to leave his job, his painting allowing him to live.
In 1888, he received an award at the Salon de Paris. The same year, he painted the Place de la Concorde Sous La Pluie (The Rain) and in 1889, he obtained a bronze medal at the Paris Salon. He was awarded a bronze medal at the 1900 Universal Exhibition in Paris.
In 1894, he was named Knight of the Legion of Honor.
On December 7, 1899, Alfred Smith married Catherine Philippine Poix in Lyon and in 1901 the couple moved to Paris.
In 1912, thanks to his friends Paul Madeline and Eugène Alluaud, Alfred Smith discovered the Creuse Valley. He was captivated by the landscapes; his style changed again and evolved towards Fauvism. He continued to paint the area around Crozant until his death, becoming one of the representatives of the Crozant school.
His wife Catherine died in September 1935, and Alfred Smith died in Paris on November 3, 1936. He is buried in Lyon next to his companion.
Alfred Smith adopted several styles during his career. He was first known for his mastery of atmospheric effects in his paintings of Bordeaux. These paintings were executed in his studio. By contrast, others were painted en plein-air, which earned him the nickname "the painter of the undergrowth".
After a visit to Venice he adopted a rather impressionist style and from 1912 onwards he moved towards fauvism.
Alfred Smith painted a series of four pictures representing the quays of Bordeaux under various metrological conditions.
He also painted the "modernity" and activity of Bordeaux with a series of paintings where he still captures the scenes of rain and fog in Bordeaux.
It was in the winter of 1896-1897 that he went to Venice for the first time, a city where he would stay many times.
In 1896, Alfred Smith had had a first "revelation" while staying in Venice: his Italian works were already marked by Impressionism.
Smith in fact became one of the specialists in Italy between 1900 and 1910. The Italian works are marked by an intensification of luminosity that struck the artist's contemporaries.
In 1912 Alfred Smith arrived in Crozant, which had been popularized by George Sand and attracted many artists from 1864 to 1920, including Claude Monet and Armand Guillaumin, referred in particular by Paul Madeline and Eugène Alluaud, his friends from the salon de la société moderne. These colonies of artists in residence in Creuse constitute what is called the Crozant school, which stretches from the 1850s to the 1920s.
From the time of his arrival until his death in 1936, Alfred Smith would return each year to spend several weeks, or even several seasons, in the Creuse Gorge. His painting will evolve towards fauvism.
Works in public collections
Bordeaux, Musée des beaux-arts, Cognac, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Dijon, Musée des beaux-arts, Guéret, Musée de la Sénatorerie, Pau, Musée des beaux-arts, Paris, Musée d'Orsay, Rouen, Musée des Beaux-arts, Savannah, Telfair Museum of Art, Venice, Museo Ca'Pesaro.