During his long and prolific career Michael Smither (b.1939) has found continuing inspiration in his immediate environment. This has resulted in a large body of work that is synonymous with New Zealand landscape and culture. He paints coastal and mountain landscapes, family and children, domestic objects and religious symbols, all of which have enabled him to solidify his position as one of New Zealand’s leading realist painters.

Born in New Plymouth, Smither was based there until his move to Auckland to attend Elam School of Fine Arts in 1959. He then returned to New Plymouth and spent the majority of the 1960s in the Taranaki region. During this time, he produced a number of landscape paintings based on the area, including Mt. Taranaki and the Taranaki boulders for which he is renowned. Smither’s landscapes are considered regionalist in approach and comparable to those of artists such as Christopher Perkins and Rita Angus, both of whom forged significant developments in New Zealand landscape during the 1930s. His work is frequently recognised as hard-edged realism with its flattened and simplified forms, strong directional light and compositional arrangements.

Smither is also renowned for his figurative and still-life paintings. His power of observation is acute and allows him to focus on seemingly mundane objects such as rubber gloves on a kitchen bench, cracked eggshells in a colander, or rocks on a beach, to paint them in a way that imbues value. Invariably, Smither’s unique and quirky way of viewing his subject matter is resonates in his works. His position as one of New Zealand’s foremost realist painters was affirmed by his touring survey exhibition The Wonder Years at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki in 2005. His paintings are held in numerable public collections including; Auckland Art Gallery and Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand. His work is also included in significant private collections throughout New Zealand and abroad.

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