Joshua Smith (artist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joshua Smith (1905 – 22 July 1995) was an Australian artist who won the Archibald Prize in 1944 with his portrait of Hon Sol Rosevear, MHR, Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, but is more well known as being the subject of the previous year's controversial Archibald Prize win, by artist William Dobell.

Although the portrait of him was very popular, with more than 154,000 visitors, a court case relating to the portrait in 1943 caused damage to his career, as well as that of Dobell's. Garfield Barwick appeared for the plaintiff, and although the claim was dismissed, it made Barwick's reputation as a rising star of the legal fraternity. In an interview in 1991 Smith called the portrait a curse, a phantom that haunts me. It has torn at me every day of my life. I've tried to bury it inside me in the hope it would die, but it never does. The portrait of him by Dobell had become more famous than his own work, which caused him considerable consternation.

External links

Biography on Australia Online
The Best Australian Profiles, ed. Matthew Ricketson

Awards
Preceded by William Dobell	Archibald Prize 1944 for portrait of Hon Sol Rosevear	Succeeded by William Dargie

Authority control	VIAF: 93484471

Persondata
Name	Smith, Joshua
Alternative names
Short description	Australian painter
Date of birth	1905
Place of birth
Date of death	22 July 1995
Place of death	Sydney, NSW

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