Title

Truck and trailer approaching a city

1973

Artist

Jeffrey Smart

Italy, Australia

26 Jul 1921 – 20 Jun 2013

Artist profile

Alternate image of Truck and trailer approaching a city by Jeffrey Smart

Details

Date

1973

Media category

Painting

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

Location

Not on display

Accession number

1.1980

Copyright

© Estate of Jeffrey Smart
Reproduction requests

Artist information

Jeffrey Smart
Artist profile

Works in the collection

70

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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
Exhibition history
Shown in 9 exhibitions
- 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
- Jeffrey Smart centenary exhibition, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, 02 Oct 2021–06 Mar 2022
Bibliography
Referenced in 22 publications
- 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.
- Kym Bonython, Ross K Luck, Laurie Thomas and Elwyn Lynn, Modern Australian painting, 1950/1975, Adelaide, 1980, 189 (colour illus.).
- Edmund Capon AM, OBE and Jan Meek (Editors), Portrait of a Gallery, 'Australian 20th Century Art', pg. 71-89, Sydney, 1984, 89 (colour illus.).
- Edmund Capon AM, OBE, Barry Pearce and Peter Quartermaine, 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.
- Edmund Capon AM, OBE, Barry Pearce and Ursula Prunster, Jeffrey Smart - A review exhibition, Sydney, 1982, cover (colour illus.), 1, 7. cat.no. 36
- Edmund Capon, Parallel visions: works from the Australian collection, 'John Brack / Jeffrey Smart', pg. 116-127, Sydney, 2002, 121 (colour illus.), 146, 147.
- Joan Chambers and Sophia Watson, Art in the sun, 'Jeffrey Smart b.1921', pg. 48, Brookvale, 2000, 48 (colour illus.).
- 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
- Brian Ladd and Alan Krell, The Artist & the City, Sydney, 1983, cover (colour illus.), 3, 14. cat.no. 30
- Elwyn Lynn, Modern Australian Painting, 1970/1975, 'Introduction', pg. 7-11, Unknown, 1976, 75 (colour illus.). plate no. 106
- 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.).
- Barry Pearce, 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.
- 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, 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, Three years on: a selection of acquisitions 1978-1981, 'Australian Art', pg. 5-26, Sydney, 1981, 22 (colour illus.). cat.no. 36
- Peter Quartermaine, Jeffrey Smart, South Yarra, 1983, 113. cat.no. 629
- Jeffrey Smart, Edmund Capon AM, OBE and Australian Galleries Pty Ltd, Jeffrey Smart: drawings and studies 1942-2001, Sydney, 2001, 93 (colour illus.). figure no. 17; cat.no. 108 is a study for this painting
- Jill Sykes, Look, 'Barry Pearce's next book-call it "segueing with intent"', pg. 28-29, Sydney, Mar 2012, 28, 29 (colour illus.).