Collection
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Title
Truck and trailer approaching a city
1973
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About
'Truck and trailer approaching a city' presents a frozen moment, in which Jeffrey Smart’s use of space, scale, colour and form evokes a sense of alienation.
'The painting is in two squares. I wanted to see if I could bring off a satisfactory composition which had a line down the centre, dividing it into two equal parts ... This is the first painting in which the apartment houses have that really impersonal quality I see in them ... I have been able to give them the grid look, amazingly similar to the pattern of memory cells in a computer. The sky is painted mainly with raw umber and mauve – with so much red, a neutral area was absolutely necessary.'
Jeffrey Smart, 1999
From the Gallery Shop
Details
Date
1973
Materials used
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Dimensions
75.0 x 150.4 cm stretcher; 90.0 x 164.5 x 8.8 cm frame
Signature & date
Signed l.l. corner, blue and black synthetic polymer paint "JEFFREY SMART". Not dated.
Credit
Purchased under the terms of the Florence Turner Blake Bequest 1980
Accession number
1.1980
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Jeffrey Smart
Truck and trailer approaching a city
Shown in 8 exhibitions
Exhibition history
Three years on: acquisitions 1978-81, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Oct 1981–01 Dec 1981
Jeffrey Smart - A review exhibition (1982), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 17 Jun 1982–08 Aug 1982
The Artist and the City:
- Art Museum Armidale, Armidale 01 Nov 1983–04 Nov 1983
- Tamworth City Gallery, Tamworth 08 Nov 1983–11 Nov 1983
- Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Manly 15 Nov 1983–20 Nov 1983
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 26 Nov 1983–18 Dec 1983
Two centuries of Australian painting, a selection from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Orange Regional Gallery, Orange, 19 Apr 1986–15 Jun 1986
Jeffrey Smart retrospective (1999-2000):
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 27 Aug 1999–31 Oct 1999
- Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide 26 Nov 1999–06 Feb 2000
- Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane 10 Mar 2000–21 May 2000
- Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne 10 Jun 2000–06 Aug 2000
Parallel Visions: Twenty-two artists from the Australian collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 22 Feb 2002–May 2003
Australian modern masterpieces from the Art Gallery of New South Wales:
- Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat 05 Oct 2011–27 Nov 2011
- Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle 10 Dec 2011–04 Mar 2012
Jeffrey Smart: constructed world, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 11 May 2019–29 Sep 2019
Referenced in 22 publications
Bibliography
Christopher Allen, The Weekend Australian, 'Hard work: A new show reminds us of the limitations of colour-field abstraction', pg. 12-13, Canberra, 17 Oct 2009-18 Oct 2009, 13. Focus room 'Tackling the field' exhibition review.
Edmund Capon, Parallel visions: works from the Australian collection, 'John Brack / Jeffrey Smart', pg. 116-127, Sydney, 2002, 121 (colour illus.), 146, 147.
Deborah Edwards, Two centuries of Australian painting: a selection from the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'Introduction', pg. 8-14, Sydney, 1986, 48 (illus.). cat.no. 57
Chris Gibson and John Connell, Sydney: the emergence of a world city, 'Artistic dreamings: tinseltown, sin city and suburban wasteland', pg. 292-318, South Melbourne, 2000, 315 (illus.). fig.no. 14.7
Sasha Grishin, Australian art: a history, 'Postmodern and postcolonial Australia', pg. 492-501, Carlton, 2013, 492 (colour illus., detail), 496 (colour illus.), 553, 568. plate no. 45.3
Elwyn Lynn, Modern Australian Painting, 1970/1975, 'Introduction', pg. 7-11, Unknown, 1976, 75 (colour illus.). plate no. 106
Barry Pearce, Look, 'Parallel Visions: a study of fellow spirits in Australian art', pg. 8-9, Melbourne, Feb 2002, 9 (colour illus.).
Barry Pearce, Australian painters of the twentieth century, 'Jeffrey Smart', pg. 172-183, Sydney, 2000, 179 (colour illus.).
Barry Pearce, Three years on: a selection of acquisitions 1978-1981, 'Australian Art', pg. 5-26, Sydney, 1981, 22 (colour illus.). cat.no. 36
Barry Pearce, Australian art: in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, 'The enduring image', pg. 265-266, Sydney, 2000, front cover (colour illus., detail), 272 (colour illus.), 302.
Barry Pearce, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Australian', pg. 13-35, Sydney, 1988, 33.
Barry Pearce, Master of stillness: Jeffrey Smart paintings 1940–2011, 'Search for the timeless', pg. 7-21, Kent Town, 2012, 16 (colour illus.).
Jill Sykes, Look, 'Barry Pearce's next book-call it "segueing with intent"', pg. 28-29, Sydney, Mar 2012, 28, 29 (colour illus.).
Jeffrey Smart, South Yarra, 1983, 113. cat.no. 629
The Artist & the City, Sydney, 1983, cover (colour illus.), 3, 14. cat.no. 30
Jeffrey Smart - A review exhibition, Sydney, 1982, cover (colour illus.), 1, 7. cat.no. 36
Portrait of a Gallery, 'Australian 20th Century Art', pg. 71-89, Sydney, 1984, 89 (colour illus.).
Modern Australian painting, 1950/1975, Adelaide, 1980, 189 (colour illus.).
Jeffrey Smart retrospective, 'Posticcia Nuova 1971-99', pg. 129-185, Sydney, 1999, 136 (colour illus.), 137 (colour illus.), 208. cat.no. 45. The image appearing on pg. 136 is in detail.
Art in the sun, 'Jeffrey Smart b.1921', pg. 48, Brookvale, 2000, 48 (colour illus.).
Jeffrey Smart: drawings and studies 1942-2001, Sydney, 2001, 93 (colour illus.). figure no. 17; cat.no. 108 is a study for this painting
Jeffrey Smart, 'Art, love and gestation in Sydney', pg. 92-137, Sydney, 2005, 120-121 (colour illus., detail), 122, 123 (colour illus.), 170, 178, 254.