Lot 24
John Ivor Smith (1927-2003)
Additional Images
Provenance:
The Isaacs Gallery, Toronto
The Helen and Walter Zwig Foundation Collection
Note:
Born in England, Smith was relocated to Montreal at the age of 13 during the Second World War, part of a program established to billet British children in safer areas of the Commonwealth. He stayed in Canada after the war, studying physics at McGill University. While working in the advertising department of the Northern Electric Company (later Northern Telecom and then Nortel), Smith began taking evening courses at the School of Art and Design at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Studying under Jacques de Tonnancour, Eldon Grier and Arthur Lismer, Smith would discover a passion for sculpture. A Canada Council fellowship would allow him to work and study casting techniques in Italy. Smith returned to Canada, where two of his figurative sculptures were included in Montreal’s Expo 67. He began teaching at Concordia University, where he would hold the distinction of being its first professor in the field of sculpture. Smith should also be remembered as an innovator, having created a technique to help sculptors enlarge maquettes to scale, a process now taken for granted in an era of computerization.
CONDITION DETAILS
The work has moderate damage along the base. Please contact specialist for a detailed report.
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