Artist: Rita Smith
Title: Still life - Carnations
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Edition: Original - One of a kind
Artwork Dimensions: 60cm x 75cm (24" x 29.5")
Frame Dimensions: 65cm 80cm 25.5" x 31.5")
Condition: Image: Good. Frame: Good
Gallery Price: No history of sale - Donated to Blue Cross Animal Charity
About the artwork
A richly textured still life by Rita Smith, capturing a vase of mixed blooms in warm, expressive tones. The composition balances vivid reds and pinks with cooler greens and blues, set against a backdrop of draped fabric and a secondary vessel. Smith’s confident brushwork and subtle abstraction reflect her Camberwell and Slade training, while the intimate scale and layered narrative evoke the quiet elegance of her South Devon practice.
About the Artist
Rita Smith was a British painter whose work reflects the disciplined training and expressive sensibility that defined a generation of post‑war artists. Educated at Camberwell School of Art, where she graduated with first‑class honours, and later at the Slade School of Fine Art, she developed a confident command of colour, structure and surface. Her practice ranged from intimate floral studies to characterful figurative compositions, each marked by a keen observational eye and a subtle emotional charge. Alongside her studio work she taught at both Camberwell and Falmouth, influencing younger artists with the same rigour that shaped her own career. A long‑standing member of the 21 Group of Artists in South Devon, she exhibited widely, including at the Royal Academy and the Mall Galleries, and remained committed to the region’s artistic life throughout her career. Her paintings reveal a thoughtful balance between academic grounding and personal expression, giving her work a quiet but enduring resonance.
