Title

Keswick siding

1945

Artist

Jeffrey Smart

Australia, Italy

26 Jul 1921 – 20 Jun 2013

Artist profile

Alternate image of Keswick siding by Jeffrey Smart

Details

Place where the work was made

Keswick → Adelaide → South Australia → Australia

Date

1945

Media category

Painting

Materials used

oil on jute canvas

Dimensions

62.0 x 72.1 cm stretcher; 78.0 x 88.5 x 8.0 cm frame

Signature & date

Signed and dated l.r. corner, brown oil "JEFF SMART 45".

Credit

Gift of Charles B Moses 1982

Location

Not on display

Accession number

193.1982

Copyright

© Estate of Jeffrey Smart
Reproduction requests

Artist information

Jeffrey Smart
Artist profile

Works in the collection

71

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About

When I was very young, I had seen Keswick siding many times from the suburban train between Unley Park and Adelaide. Eventually I decided to do something about it, but it was difficult. The siding was on railway property, so I had to get off at Keswick station and climb down from the platform with my easel and gear and camera, and walk along the tracks with trains rushing past. Once work is started there is always the possibility of an officious railway worker ordering you off the site.
Jeffrey Smart, 1996

Keswick siding declares Smart's early fascination for urban industrial landscapes and transport systems and witnesses the emergence of pictorial elements that have persisted throughout his career. It reflects his absorption of old master painting techniques from teachers at the South Australian School of Art, Marie Tuck (pupil of Rupert Bunny) and Ivor Hele. However, it is also an example of the painterly impasto approach that preceded his shift in technique to the 'eggshell' finish characteristic of his mature style.
Places

Where the work was made

Keswick
Exhibition history
Shown in 10 exhibitions
- Jeffrey Smart - A review exhibition (1982), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 17 Jun 1982–08 Aug 1982
- Twentieth century Australian masterworks from the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Fred Williams Pilbara series from the collection of CRA Limited, Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, , 04 Oct 1985–06 Nov 1985
- Justin O'Brien and friends: a birthday celebration (1987), S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 06 Aug 1987–30 Aug 1987
- Paint on the tracks: Australian artists and the railway, S.H. Ervin Gallery, The Rocks, 22 Apr 1994–29 May 1994
- Jeffrey Smart retrospective (1999-2000), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 27 Aug 1999–31 Oct 1999
  
  Jeffrey Smart retrospective (1999-2000), Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, 26 Nov 1999–06 Feb 2000
  
  Jeffrey Smart retrospective (1999-2000), Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, 10 Mar 2000–21 May 2000
  
  Jeffrey Smart retrospective (1999-2000), Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 10 Jun 2000–06 Aug 2000
- Parallel Visions: Twenty-two artists from the Australian collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 Feb 2002–May 2003
- Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, 05 Oct 2011–27 Nov 2011
  
  Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, 10 Dec 2011–04 Mar 2012
- Master of Stillness: Jeffrey Smart paintings 1940–2011, Carrick Hill, Australia, 12 Oct 2012–24 Feb 2013
- Jeffrey Smart: constructed world, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 11 May 2019–29 Sep 2019
- Jeffrey Smart centenary exhibition, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 02 Oct 2021–06 Mar 2022
Bibliography
Referenced in 12 publications
- Edmund Capon AM, OBE, I blame Duchamp: my life's adventures in art, 'Jefrrey Smart: a man of great composure', pg. 179-190, Sydney, 2009, 185, 193.
- Edmund Capon AM, OBE, Barry Pearce and Ursula Prunster, Jeffrey Smart - A review exhibition, Sydney, 1982, 2 (illus.), 5. cat.no. 6
- Edmund Capon, Parallel visions: works from the Australian collection, 'John Brack / Jeffrey Smart', pg. 116-127, Sydney, 2002, 122 (colour illus.), 123, 124, 146, 147.
- Edmund Capon, Jeffrey Smart retrospective, 'Still, Silent, Composed', pg. 12-21, Sydney, 1999, 16, 21, 27 (colour illus.), 28, 69 (colour illus.), 202. cat.no 4. The image on pg. 26 is in detail.
- Gavin Fry, Paint on the tracks: Australian artists and the railway, 'Introduction', pg. 7-10, Sydney, 1994, 8, 22, 23 (illus.), 50. cat.no. 35
- Bruce James, The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Getting Smart', pg. 14, Sydney, 04 Sep 1999, 14s. This article appears in the Spectrum section of the newspaper.
- Barry Pearce, Master of stillness: Jeffrey Smart paintings 1940–2011, 'Search for the timeless', pg. 7-21, Kent Town, 2012, 10, 31 (colour illus.), 125. cat.no. 13
- Barry Pearce and Patrick McCaughey, Twentieth century Australian masterworks from the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Fred Williams Pilbara Series, Tokyo, 1985, 44 (colour illus.). cat.no. 25
- Barry Pearce, Jeffrey Smart, 'Art and life in South Australia', pg. 24-69, Sydney, 2005, 30 (colour illus.), 45, 47, 51.
- Barry Pearce, Australian painters of the twentieth century, 'Jeffrey Smart', pg. 172-183, Sydney, 2000, 174 (colour illus.), 179.
- Barry Pearce, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'The enduring image', pg. 265-266, Sydney, 2000, 271 (colour illus.), 302.
- Peter Quartermaine, Jeffrey Smart, South Yarra, 1983, 56 (colour illus.), 100. cat.no. 71