| Sam Smith | |
| Birth Name: | Alan Verner Smith |
| Birth Date: | 1908 7, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Shirley, Southampton, England |
| Death Place: | Newton Abbot, Devon, England |
| Field: | toy-maker, painter and sculptor |
Sam Smith (Alan Verner Smith, 1908–1983) was an artist, crafter and sculptor, known for his sculptures and toy-making for adults and children, carving wooden curios such as boats and seaside dioramas.
Smith was born in Southampton on 27 July 1908.[1] His father was a steamship captain.[1] Smith attended Victoria College, Jersey.[1] He studied art at Bournemouth School of Art and Westminster School of Art.[1]
Art UK writes "A lonely, introspective child, he "always wanted to be an artist", went to art school, but the 1930s Depression meant that he had to become a handyman and advertising illustrator".[2] He was unsuccessful as a painter.[1]
He started to carve and make wooden toys whilst working at an art gallery in London, and these were sold in the gallery shop.[1]
During the Second World War, Smith worked as a draughtsman, for instance producing technical drawings for the development of the Bailey Bridge in Christchurch, Dorset.[1] [2] .
His wooden toys were shown at the Royal Festival Hall following the war.[2] "Smith’s objects became bigger, more elaborate and less toy-like, based on childhood memories and colourful characters, witty but a stringent comments on society."[2] The Victoria and Albert Museum says that "His work has been described as "sculpture toys for grown-ups" ... by the 1970s they had become quite large, with unusual themes".[3]
After the war, he, his wife Gladys, and stepson lived in a steep-hillside house, The Golf House, overlooking Kingswear, Devon, and across the River Dart to Dartmouth. For making toys, Smith had many wood-cutting tools in his studio in their house. They moved from Kingswear to Newton Abbot, Devon in 1979, where he continued to create work in his studio.
A film about Smith, Sam Smith: Genuine England, was made by the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1976, and broadcast by BBC Two on Arena.[2] [4]
Smith continued to be successful in the United States of America with less of a reputation in the UK until Bristol Museum & Art Gallery held a large-scale exhibition in 1972.[1] [2] In 1981 the Serpentine Gallery had a joint exhibition with H. C. Westermann, an American artist who was a friend of his.[2] During this exhibition Smith suffered a stroke. This was his last show. He died in 1983.[2]
He signed much[5] of his 1930s work "Alan V". Later, he signed items "Sam Smith, Genuine England" as he became successful and sold work in London (for instance at the Primavera Gallery)[1] and New York.
Southampton City Art Gallery holds some of his work, including his painting Bathers in Southampton Water.[2] [6] The Victoria and Albert Museum also has some of his work.[3]