May Smith (textile designer)
| May Anne Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born |
18 June 1906 Simla, India |
| Died | 24 July 1988 (aged 82) Coromandel, New Zealand |
| Known for | Textile design, painting, print making |
May Anne Smith (18 June 1906 – 24 July 1988) was a painter, engraver, textile designer and textile printer. Smith was part of a movement of women who were instrumental in bringing new artistic ideas to New Zealand and influencing the art of the country.
May Smith was born in Simla, India, in 1906 where British India had its summer government headquarters. Smith's father was Sir Joseph Smith, a civil engineer. Smith was the eldest of three children. She went to England in her early childhood in order undergo a series of hip operations. Because the procedures included long periods of enforced inactivity, her grandmother encouraged her to use this time to learn to paint. When she was mobile again at school she received formal art training, first at a convent in Mussoorie and later at Loreto College in Simla.
Smith returned to New Zealand, in 1921 with her mother and two brothers where they settled in Auckland. Smith began as a student of the Diocesan School. From 1924 to 1928 she attended Elam School of Art at the University of Auckland where she studied engraving before returning to England to attend the Royal College of Art in London. She became briefly involved with the Communist party during her time at the Royal College. At the college, she also associated with Jocelyn Mays (who was later to marry A. R. D. Fairburn), James Boswell, and the painter Hildegard. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1931 with a diploma in engraving.
In 1933 she visited Spain where she met the artist Frances Hodgkins in the town of Ibiza. Hodgkins and Smith forged a friendship.
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