This exhibition is a rare opportunity to consider Gordon Smith’s artistic path as it developed from representational images of landscapes that were new and highly revelatory for him, to the fluidity of abstraction where the manipulation of paint and the balances of colour and light were the driving forces in creating compelling compositions.
This significant collection of works is the first exhibition in over twenty years to focus on the dynamic nature of his early career. During the optimism of the postwar period, Vancouver was a hotbed of exciting developments in West Coast Modernism and Smith was a central figure receiving national and international attention for canvases that were a bold and expressive response to western abstraction.
A preview of the exhibition is available in person at Equinox Gallery on Commercial Street, or via the catalogue linked Here.
Installation View
Gordon Smith: Early WorksSeptember 6th - October 11th, 2024
Installation View
Gordon Smith: Early WorksSeptember 6th - October 11th, 2024
Installation View
Gordon Smith: Early WorksSeptember 6th - October 11th, 2024
Installation View
Gordon Smith: Early WorksSeptember 6th - October 11th, 2024
Installation View
Gordon Smith: Early WorksSeptember 6th - October 11th, 2024
Installation View
Gordon Smith: Early WorksSeptember 6th - October 11th, 2024
Installation View
Gordon Smith: Early WorksSeptember 6th - October 11th, 2024
Installation View
Gordon Smith: Early WorksSeptember 6th - October 11th, 2024
Gordon Smith
Nocturne
ca. 1961
Oil on canvas
34 1/2" x 43 1/2"
Gordon Smith
Blue & Black Painting
ca. 1958
Oil on canvas
34" x 48"
Gordon Smith
Untitled
ca. 1955-1960
Oil on board
Board Size: 23" x 40"Frame Size: 28" x 45"
Gordon Smith
Easter Sunday
ca. 1955-1959
Oil on canvas
Canvas Size: 35" x 28"Frame Size: 36 1/2" x 29 1/2"
Gordon Smith
Painting with Green & Grey
ca. 1960
Oil on Masonite
Board Size: 11" x 14"Frame Size: 15" x 18"
Gordon Smith
Winterscape
ca. 1960
Oil on Board
Board Size: 14" x 18"Frame Size: 20" x 24"
Gordon Smith
Untitled (Barn)
1958
Oil on Board
Board Size: 12" x 16"Frame Size: 13" x 17"
Gordon Smith
Untitled (Driftwood)
ca.1948
Oil on Canvas
Canvas Size: 20" x 24"Frame Size: 21 1/4" x 25 1/4"
Featured Artists
The Estate of Gordon Smith
The Estate of Gordon Smith
Gordon Smith (1919-2020) was a key figure in contemporary Canadian art. Since the 1950s, he worked continuously to expand the dialogue between abstraction and representation. In his tangled paintings, there is the insinuation of entire fields of colour below the surface. Over the course of his 75-year long career he has made paintings employing that procedure of looping and overlapping, the movement of line to line, texture into texture and colour into colour. His work has been an evolving search for balance between abstraction and his love of the land, which has given us insight into both the act of painting and the essence of the West Coast.