Jeffrey Smart exhibition comes to the National Gallery of Australia

More than 100 pieces by legendary Australian artist Jeffrey Smart are being hung for a blockbuster exhibition.

Installation of Jeffrey Smart’s Four Closed Shops at the National Gallery of Australia.

Over 100 pieces by legendary Australian artist Jeffrey Smart, have been flown into Canberra and are being hung on the walls of the National Gallery of Australia for what will be one of the first blockbuster exhibitions since lockdown ended.

Opening on December 11, the Jeffrey Smart exhibition marks the centenary of the late Adelaide-raised artist’s birth, and was delayed by more than two months due to the ACT lockdown.

The showcase includes studies and watercolour drafts, revealing the process behind some of Smart’s most iconic paintings, including the Cahill Expressway.

Co-curator Rebecca Edwards prepares for the upcoming Jeffrey Smart exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia.

Curator Dr Deborah Hart said the Cahill Expressway was a reflection of Cahill’s interest “in the transformation of Sydney as a modern city”.

“We have quite a lot of art that he did in Sydney, it was a very interesting and quite experimental time for him,” Mrs Hart said.

“In the ’50s and very early ’60s when he was living in Sydney he was struggling to make a living. So he was working as a teacher, as an art critic and he was also on ABC television.

“So Sydney was a time that was both about his art and his experiences and we have we have quite a number of works that show him trying different things.”

Installation of Jeffrey Smart’s Plastic tubes.

Mrs Hart said the Cahill Expressway “represents something of the modern world.”

“It is such an intriguing work that shows different viewpoints. You know, you can see the road going under the tunnel as well as the road going above it,” she said.

“And so he’s showing you different vantage points. So I think it’s modern, but it also feels quite mysterious. You’re not quite sure what the man is doing there. And you know, in a way, Smart is kind of setting up a theatre for us to imagine our own stories.”

Loaned from galleries and private collections across Australia, pieces in the gallery’s exhibition span from Smart’s early works in the 1940s to his last painting, Labyrinth, completed in 2011, two years before he died.

Jeffrey Smart’s Corrugated Gioconda being checked at National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.

Mrs Hart said she was excited to see many different age groups who are interested in visiting the gallery this weekend.

“You know, people who know Jeffrey Smart works who are really excited to see the works in or the paintings and the drawings in a different exhibition in a way that they wouldn’t have seen them before,” she said.

“But we’ve also had a lot of interest from people who are coming to his work afresh. So, you know, we’ve seen that, for example, on social media, that there’s been a big interest from audiences responding to the works because they are quite engaging.”

Originally published as Jeffrey Smart exhibition comes to the National Gallery of Australia