Sydney Ure Smith

Sydney Ure Smith
Sydney Ure Smith, 1948
Born(1887-01-09)9 January 1887
London
Died11 October 1949(1949-10-11) (aged 62)[1]
Potts Point, New South Wales
Known forPainting, publishing

Sydney George Ure Smith OBE (9 January 1887 – 11 October 1949) was an Australian arts publisher, artist and promoter who "did more than any other Australian to publicize Australian art at home and overseas".[2]

Unlike most of his contemporaries, he seldom submitted his own art work for publication. He published some of his own work in limited edition books such as Old Sydney (1911) and Old Colonial By-Ways (1928), prompted by his passion for preserving historic buildings.[3]

Early life

He was born in London in 1887 and arrived in Australia with his parents later that same year.[4] His father John (d. 1919)[5] was manager of the Menzies Hotel, Melbourne and later of the Hotel Australia, Sydney for over 20 years. His parents adopted the form "Ure Smith": his mother (d. 1931)[6] was born Catherine Ure, but formally their surname remained Smith.[3]

He was educated at Queen's College, Melbourne and then at Sydney Grammar School.[4] He studied pencil and ink drawing at the Julian Ashton Art School (1902–07) and then learnt the techniques of etching from Eirene Mort.[3] At age 19 he helped Harry Julius and Albert Collins found the commercial art studio that later became Smith and Julius.[4]

He died in 1949 after several years of ill health and was survived by a son from his second marriage, Sydney George 'Sam' Ure-Smith (died 19 November 2013)[7] and a daughter, Dorothy Hemphill (died 15 March 2009).[8]

Business

Artistic expression to him was never more than a pleasant pastime; his real passion lay in harnessing technology to reproduce the works of others. In 1916 he founded a syndicate with Bertram Stevens and Charles Lloyd Jones to publish Art in Australia,[8] and in the same year he founded the commercial art studio and advertising firm Smith and Julius with Harry Julius, specialising in high quality artwork for prestigious clients such as Dunlop[9][10] and Berlei.[11][12] They employed such prominent Sydney artists as James Muir Auld, Fred Britton, Frank Burdett, Harold Cazneaux, Albert Collins (who was a director from 1916–51), Roy de Maistre, Adrian Feint, George Frederick Lawrence, Percival Leason, John Passmore, Lloyd Rees, Bill Sparrow and Roland Wakelin. After 1923 he ceased active involvement with the company.

He founded magazine The Home, published monthly from February 1920–42, in the mould of Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and Vanity Fair.[13]

He founded Ure Smith Pty. Ltd. in 1939, initially to publish Australia: National Journal (quarterly, then monthly, 1939–47). He edited books on J. J. Hilder, Arthur Streeton, Blamire Young, Hans Heysen, Norman Lindsay, Elioth Gruner, Margaret Preston, George Lambert, Douglas Annand, Francis Lymburner and William Dobell.[4]

He also published the Australian Art Annual (of which only one issue appeared, in 1939) and several books in the Present Day Art in Australia Series (1946).[14]

When Sydney Ure Smith died in 1949, his son Sam Ure-Smith took over the management of the firm.[7]

The latter published a number of book series including the Ure Smith Miniature Series[15] and the Walkabout Pocketbooks.[16] In 1957 he published John O'Grady's book They're a Weird Mob (published under the pseudonym of Nino Culotta), which became a bestseller. Beginning in May 1963 he published the periodical Art & Australia which was the successor to his father's magazine Art in Australia, and is still in print. In 1964 he established the paperback reprint imprint Humorbooks,[17] with titles by Australian and foreign authors.[18]

In 1965 the Ure Smith firm was acquired by Horwitz and in 1972 Paul Hamlyn bought Ure Smith from Horwitz.[19]

Public life

Sydney Ure Smith led a furiously active public life: he was a foundation member (with Gayfield Shaw, Lionel Lindsay, John Shirlow, Eirene Mort, David Barker, Albert Henry Fullwood, John Barclay Godson, and Bruce Robertson) of the Australian Painter-Etchers Society in 1920 and almost certainly was instrumental in founding its daughter organisation, the Australian Print Collectors' Club in 1925.

He was president of the New South Wales Society of Artists in the period 1921–47. He was a trustee of the Art Gallery of New South Wales 1927–47 (and vice-president 1943–47, supporting the controversial 1943 Archibald Prize going to William Dobell for his portrait of Joshua Smith).

He was on the Advisory Committee for Applied Art (1925–31), a member of the Australian War Memorial art committee and a trustee of the New South Wales government travelling scholarship committee.[3]

From 1937 Smith was a foundation member and vice-president of Menzies' conservative Australian Academy of Art.[20] He was chairman of the committees for the cultural section of the Australian pavilions at New York World's Fair (1939) and the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition (1939–40). He was on the organising committee for the Art of Australia exhibition that toured North America (1941–45). He was one of the founders of the Empire-United States of America Art Trust, and a council member of the Australian Limited Editions Society. He was a frequent guest on radio programs.[3]

Exhibitions

Recognition

He was awarded the New South Wales Society of Artists medal in 1931. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1937.

Personal life

He married a fellow art student Viola Austral Quaife, a granddaughter of Rev. Barzillai Quaife in 1909. His second wife was Ethel Bickley.

An accomplished mimic and raconteur, "on Sunday mornings he entertained a stream of visitors from Europe as well as such friends as Lionel Lindsay, Hardy Wilson and (Sir) Robert Menzies".[3]

  • Post Office Tower from Wynyard Street, 1916: etching by Sydney Ure Smith
    Post Office Tower from Wynyard Street, 1916: etching by Sydney Ure Smith

References

  1. ^ "SYDNEY URE SMITH DIES". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 34, 885. New South Wales, Australia. 12 October 1949. p. 5. Retrieved 12 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ McCulloch, Alan (1968). Encyclopedia of Australian Art. London: Hutchinson & Co. ISBN 978-0-09-081420-6.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Nancy D. H. Underhill. "Sydney George Ure Smith (1887–1949)". Sydney George Ure Smith. Australian Dictionary of Biography.
  4. ^ a b c d "Death of Sydney Ure Smith". The Argus. No. 32, 171. Victoria, Australia. 12 October 1949. p. 5. Retrieved 4 January 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "CASUALTIES". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 25, 560. New South Wales, Australia. 6 December 1919. p. 14. Retrieved 4 January 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "MRS. J. URE SMITH". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 29, 065. New South Wales, Australia. 2 March 1931. p. 13. Retrieved 4 January 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ a b "Sam Ure-Smith: Publisher had passion for fine art", The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 January 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  8. ^ a b "SYDNEY URE SMITH DIES". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 34, 885. New South Wales, Australia. 12 October 1949. p. 5. Retrieved 4 January 2012 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "92/1390 Poster, 'Dunlop Cycle Tyres and Tubes', Smith and Julius Studios, Australia, 1930-1940 - Powerhouse Museum Collection". Powerhousemuseum.com. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  10. ^ "92/1391 Poster, 'Dunlop Perdriau Motor Tubes', Smith and Julius Studios, Australia, 1929-1942 - Powerhouse Museum Collection". Powerhousemuseum.com. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  11. ^ "BURDETT, Frank SMITH AND JULIUS | This new talon fastened step-in by Berlei". Cs.nga.gov.au. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  12. ^ "BURDETT, Frank SMITH AND JULIUS | Berlei visualises a new beauty". Artsearch.nga.gov.au. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  13. ^ "'The Home' magazine, cover by Ellen Gray : About New South Wales". About.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
    "Dunlop flooring advertisement". Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS). Retrieved 12 April 2017.
    "Magazine, 'The Home', Vol 16 No.3 March 1 1935, paper, Sydney Ure Smith, Sydney, Australia, 1935". Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS)accessdate=12 April 2017.
  14. ^ se:Present Day Art in Australia Series, worldcat.org. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  15. ^ Ure Smith Miniature Series - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  16. ^ Walkabout Pocketbooks (Ure Smith) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 17 August 2019.
  17. ^ Humorbooks, austlit.edu.au. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  18. ^ Humorbooks (Ure Smith) - Book Series List, publishinghistory.com. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  19. ^ Robyn Sheahan-Bright, To Market to Market: The Development of the Australian Children's Publishing Industry, Ph.D. thesis, School of Arts, Griffith University, 2006, p. 198. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  20. ^ Australian Academy of Art (1937 - 1946): Organisation, menziescollection.esrc.unimelb.edu.au. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  21. ^ "Art Notes : Etchings on view". The Age. Melbourne. 18 September 1934. p. 7.

Further reading

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