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Wharfie Jack Smith - Millers Point

Artist Roderick Shaw (1915-1992)

Date1950

Object number00027931

NameDrawing

MediumPencil, paper

DimensionsImage: 358 x 212 mm
Overall: 620 x 455 x 30 mm, 2.3 kg
Mount: 575 x 415 mm

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from the Estate of Harry Stein

Terms

DescriptionA drawing by Roderick Shaw titled 'Jack Smith - Millers Point' depicting the wharfie Jack Smith smoking a cigarette. Signed 'Roderick Shaw 1950'. An inscription on the verso of the frame has a different title and date 'Jack Smith wharfie ... Late 1945'.HistoryThe Studio of Realist Art (SORA) was established at artist Roderick Shaw's studio at 171 Sussex Street, Sydney in 2 March 1945, and soon moved to larger premises at 214 George Street, Sydney, where meetings and art classes were held until 1948, when it closed due to being "a victim of the cultural Cold War." The foundation committee consisted of James Cant, Roy Dalgarno, Roderick Shaw, Hal Missingham, John Oldham, Adrian Galjaard, Bernard Smith, Herbert McClintock, and Dora Cant. According to Bernard Smith, SORA was formed to "bring art into closer relationship to contemporary life. The founders of the Studio believe that art today can only be revitalised if the artist is prepared to draw upon the varied experience that he will gain from the world about if he has the vision to see and the humanity to feel." Ref: Bernard Smith, A Pavene for Another Time, 2002, NLA. SignificanceThis work is significant as it relates to the Studio of Realist Art (SORA) and the Wharfies Art Group.
It was produced by Rod Shaw in the 1950s when he was a member of SORA, subsequently president of the Wharfies Art Group and the person who initiated and planned the Wharfies' Mural.