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Task 6: +{{Authority control}} (3 IDs from Wikidata), WP:GenFixes on

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{{EngvarB|date=March 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox artist
|name = May Anne Smith
|birth_name =
|birth_place = Simla, India
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1906|06|18|df=y}}
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1988|07|24|1906|06|18|df=y}}
|death_place = [[Coromandel, New Zealand|Coromandel]], New Zealand
|known_for = Textile design, painting, print making
}}
'''May Anne Smith''' (18 June 1906 – 24 July 1988) was a painter, engraver, textile designer and textile printer. Smith was part of a movement of women who were instrumental in bringing new artistic ideas to New Zealand and influencing the art of the country.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url = http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/1087|title = Biography of May Anne Smith|date = |accessdate = 4 May 2015|website = Te Papa|publisher = Museum of New Zealand: Te Papa Tongarewa|last = |first = }}</ref>

== Early life ==
May Smith was born in [[Shimla|Simla]], India, in 1906 where [[British Raj|British India]] had its summer government headquarters. Smith's father was Sir Joseph Smith, a civil engineer.<ref name=":3" /> Smith was the eldest of three children. She went to England in her early childhood in order undergo a series of hip operations.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url = http://www.lostproperty.org.nz/artists-writers/may-smith/|title = May Smith|date = |accessdate = 4 May 2015|website = Lost Property|publisher = |last = |first = }}</ref> Because the procedures included long periods of enforced inactivity, her grandmother encouraged her to use this time to learn to paint.<ref name=":1" /> When she was mobile again at school she received formal art training, first at a convent in [[Mussoorie]] and later at [[Loreto Convent, Tara Hall, Shimla|Loreto College]] in Simla.<ref name=":3" />

== Education ==
Smith returned to New Zealand, in 1921 with her mother and two brothers where they settled in [[Auckland]].<ref name=":3" /> Smith began as a student of the [[Diocesan School for Girls (Auckland)|Diocesan School]]. From 1924 to 1928 she attended Elam School of Art at [[University of Auckland|Auckland University College]] where she studied [[engraving]] before returning to England to attend the [[Royal College of Art]] in [[London]].<ref name=":1" /> She became briefly involved with the [[Communist party]] during her time at the Royal College.<ref name=":0" /> At the college, she also associated with Jocelyn Mays (who was later to marry [[A. R. D. Fairburn]]), [[James Boswell]], and the painter [[Hildegard]]. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1931 with a diploma in engraving.<ref name=":2" />

== Career ==
In 1933 Smith visited Spain where she met New Zealand artist [[Frances Hodgkins]] in the town of [[Ibiza]].<ref name=":0" /> Hodgkins and Smith forged a friendship.<ref name=":3" />

Smith found it difficult to obtain work as an engraver after her graduation because of the [[Great Depression|Depression]].<ref name=":0" /> Her attempts at obtaining work in book illustration or commercial art were also unsuccessful, especially because many places "refused to hire women when so many men were unemployed."<ref name=":1" /> Influenced by Hodgkins, Smith focused on painting and started exhibiting her work in small galleries. "It was during the depression and no-one was interested in art or artists. I was mainly concerned with earning a living so I concentrated on textiles."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url = http://www.textiles.org.nz/museum/msmith/index.html|title = May Smith|date = July 2002|accessdate = 4 May 2015|website = Patterns of Identity: Textiles in Aotearoa|publisher = Auckland Museum Applied Arts Collection of Printed Textiles|last = |first = |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150115153719/http://textiles.org.nz/museum/msmith/index.html|archive-date = 15 January 2015|url-status = dead}}</ref> She taught herself fabric designing and printing, using wood or linoleum cut blocks. She had some success selling her hand-printed fabric to boutique stores such as [[Peter Jones (department store)|Peter Jones]] and Heal and Sons but did no repeat business.<ref name=":2" />

With the outbreak of World War II, Smith returned to New Zealand in 1939 and painting again became her priority. She was a part of the "Auckland Intelligentsia," a group of artists, writers and poets with "[[socialist]] leanings."<ref name=":0" /> As a member of these political discussions, Smith was considered a "quiet leader" who was good at redirecting poorly thought out ideas.<ref name=":3" />

During this time she began to be recognized for her paintings. At the 1940 Auckland Society of Arts Show, Smith exhibited some of the paintings that she'd brought back with her. With their original sense of design and structure, and their daring use of colour, they aroused both shock and admiration.<ref name=":3" /> However the shortage of fabrics caused her to return to fabric printing. She became a member of was a member of the Auckland Society of Arts and worked on commissioned fabric prints and murals.

In 1944 she married Philip Hardcastle, a trades union official. In 1945, Smith became the topic of an important article in The Arts in New Zealand by R.P. Anschutz.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url = http://www.art-newzealand.com/Issues21to30/smith.htm|title = May Smith: Representation & the Freedom of Imagination|date = 1983|accessdate = 4 May 2015|website = Art New Zealand|publisher = |last = Shaw|first = Peter}}</ref> In 1950, Smith and her husband moved to [[Gisborne, New Zealand|Gisborne]], where they set up work as commercial fabric printers.<ref name=":2" /> In 1952 the marriage dissolved and Smith returned to Auckland.<ref name=":0" /> Smith taught part-time at the Auckland Teachers Training College in the 1950s before teaching art full-time at the [[Epsom Girls' Grammar School]] and illustrating for the School Journal.<ref name=":2" />

She continued to exhibit her hand printed fabrics in group shows with the artist [[A. R. D. Fairburn]] and her work sold in a number of Auckland and Wellington shops including the [[Helen Hitchings|Helen Hitchings Gallery]]. Smith eventually became disillusioned with textile design, feeling that it wasn't possible to compete with mass-produced fabrics, but she continued to incorporate textile design into her work.<ref name=":2" /> She also introduced her students, among them [[Robin White (artist)|Robin White]], to the possibilities of screenprinting.

She retired from the art department at Epsom Girls' Grammar School in 1965 and in 1967 moved permanently to the [[Coromandel, New Zealand|Coromandel]]. In 1974 she married John Fowler who was very helpful and supportive of her art, creating an "ideal environment for a painter to work in" for her.<ref name=":3" /> She continued to paint and exhibit regularly in [[Thames, New Zealand|Thames]], [[Hamilton, New Zealand|Hamilton]], Coromandel, Auckland and [[Dunedin]] up until the early 1980s.<ref name=":2" /> May Smith died in 1988.

== List of works ==
*[http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/search.aspx?advanced=colProProductionMakers%3a%22Smith%2c+May%22+colCollectionGroup%3aCH Works in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]
*[http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collections-research/collections/search?k=May+Smith&dept=Applied+Arts+and+Design Works in the collection of Auckland War Memorial Museum]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Textile designers}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, May Anne}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1988 deaths]]
[[Category:New Zealand artists]]
[[Category:Textile designers]]
[[Category:People from Shimla]]
[[Category:People from Coromandel Peninsula]]
[[Category:Artists from Himachal Pradesh]]
[[Category:People educated at Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Art]]
[[Category:Elam Art School alumni]]
[[Category:New Zealand women artists]]

May Smith (textile designer) - Revision history

imported>Tom.Bot: Task 6: +{{Authority control}} (3 IDs from Wikidata), WP:GenFixes on