Edward Lucie-Smith
Born 1933 Kingston Jamaica – Lives and works in the UK
A poet and a historian, Edward Lucie-Smith does not contribute fact or anecdote in his prolific writing. Instead, he re-constructs and re-organizes art theory, making complex histories accessible to all audiences through an unusual, poetic perspective. Author of over one hundred books, more than sixty of which are about art and most of those about contemporary art, Lucie-Smith is also a widely exhibited practicing photographer. He worked in advertising for ten years after his studies at King’s school in Canterbury, and Merton College, Oxford University where he read in History (1954). During his time at University, he built a portfolio of art writing and befriended poet Peter Redgrove and playwright William Trevor. Greatly impressed by the criticism of John Berger, author of the text on art criticism, Ways of Seeing (1972) Lucie-Smith began writing art criticism for the Oxford student magazine. To date, many of his texts are considered standard texts including Visual Art of the 20th Century, A Dictionary of Art Terms, Art Today and Movements in Art Since 1945. First published in 1969, Movements in Art has been updated five times, and the newest edition was released in 2001. Lucie-Smith’s role in the art world is not limited to writer or internationally exhibited and collected photographer. He is also a lecturer and has curated major exhibitions including the Peter Moores Projects at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, The New British Painting that toured the US from 1988-90, and two retrospectives of Lim Emery and George Dunbar both at the New Orleans Museum of Art. As a veritable contemporary Renaissance man, Lucie-Smith takes interest in the fast pace of contemporary art because he sees its inextricable link with economics and technology.
Born 1933 Kingston Jamaica – Lives and works in the UK
A poet and a historian, Edward Lucie-Smith does not contribute fact or anecdote in his prolific writing. Instead, he re-constructs and re-organizes art theory, making complex histories accessible to all audiences through an unusual, poetic perspective. Author of over one hundred books, more than sixty of which are about art and most of those about contemporary art, Lucie-Smith is also a widely exhibited practicing photographer. He worked in advertising for ten years after his studies at King’s school in Canterbury, and Merton College, Oxford University where he read in History (1954). During his time at University, he built a portfolio of art writing and befriended poet Peter Redgrove and playwright William Trevor. Greatly impressed by the criticism of John Berger, author of the text on art criticism, Ways of Seeing (1972) Lucie-Smith began writing art criticism for the Oxford student magazine. To date, many of his texts are considered standard texts including Visual Art of the 20th Century, A Dictionary of Art Terms, Art Today and Movements in Art Since 1945. First published in 1969, Movements in Art has been updated five times, and the newest edition was released in 2001. Lucie-Smith’s role in the art world is not limited to writer or internationally exhibited and collected photographer. He is also a lecturer and has curated major exhibitions including the Peter Moores Projects at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, The New British Painting that toured the US from 1988-90, and two retrospectives of Lim Emery and George Dunbar both at the New Orleans Museum of Art. As a veritable contemporary Renaissance man, Lucie-Smith takes interest in the fast pace of contemporary art because he sees its inextricable link with economics and technology.