Antonio Smith (artist)
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Antonio Smith | |
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Born | Miguel Antonio Smith Irisarri 29 September 1832 |
Died | 24 May 1877 Santiago, Chile | (aged 44)
Education | Academy of Painting (Santiago, Chile) |
Occupation(s) | Painter, printmaker, educator |
Miguel Antonio Smith Irisarri (29 September 1832 – 24 May 1877) was a Chilean landscape painter, engraver, caricaturist and art teacher.
Biography
His father, Jorge, was a native of Scotland and served as the consul in Santiago. His mother, Carmen, was the daughter of independence leader Antonio José de Irisarri and the sister of poet Hermógenes Irisarri. His family wanted him to be a lawyer. With his own money, he purchased brushes and paints, but they were thrown away.
He continued to insist so vehemently that, in 1849, his family gave in and allowed him to study at the new
A year later, unsuccessful, he enlisted in a squadron of mounted
After only a year, he quit and became an illustrator for the political daily El Correo Literario, which was critical of the Conservative Republic. Although handicapped by old, malfunctioning equipment and a dearth of decent supplies, he created a huge number of portrait caricatures of notable people (including his old nemesis, Ciccarelli), with humorous captions or poems by Guillermo Matta .[1] As might be expected, there was much official opposition. President Manuel Montt called on them to stop publishing "esos monos groseros" (those crude monkeys). After less than a year of operation, they had to close up shop, at least temporarily.
Time abroad
The failure of the
In 1866, following a difficult six-month voyage, he landed at San Antonio and joined a group of firefighters from Santiago, although he did not remain with them for long. Serious cultural reforms were sweeping the country, but he was amazed to see how little had changed at the Academy. That is, Ciccarelli was still in charge, so Smith established his own teaching workshop.[1] In 1869, Ciccarelli was replaced by Ernst Kirchbach, a German painter who was more amenable to Smith, and they began sharing students. Some of his best-known students include Alfredo Valenzuela Puelma, Pedro Lira, Alberto Orrego Luco, Onofre Jarpa and Cosme San Martín.
Although an excellent teacher, he was very disorganized, painting when the mood struck him. As a result, many of his works were done quickly or left unfinished. His many imitators often make it difficult to assign authorship with certainty. The majority of his paintings are in private collections.
Landscapes
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Cordillera and Lake
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Twilight on the Shore
References
Further reading
- Arturo Blanco, Antonio Smith, Pintor de Paisajes y Caricaturista Chileno. Santiago: Instituto de Extensión de Artes Plásticas de la Universidad de Chile, 1954.
- Vicente Grez, Antonio Smith (Historia del Paisaje en Chile), La ilustración editorial en Chile, 1882 (Republished 1910?)
External links
- Posthumous portrait of Antonio Smith by Manuel Thomson Ortiz (1875-1953) @ SurDoc
- Revista Topaze "Political Cartooning in Chile"