A painter’s painter and a skilled draughtsman, working in oil watercolour and acrylic, Michael Smee’s paintings vividly capture people gathered together in cafes, bars and pubs, frequently exploring the inner margins of the city and semi-hidden streets that are threaded through the urban sprawl. He closely observes their interior decoration, social interactions of the clientele and the collision of cultures that figure modern city life.
Beer connoisseur
Michael was born in Chelmsford in 1946 and studied at Colchester School of Art in the early 60’s. After college he joined Birmingham Repertory Theatre as a Scenic Artist / Designer – occasionally moonlighting to assist the scenic department on productions at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-Upon-Avon.
He moved to London in 1967 to work at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, when Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev were the principle dancers. This was a stimulating time, with the fruit & veg market still operating and the hustle and bustle of colourful characters and vibrant pub/cafe life on this most theatrical of doorsteps.
In 1969 he broadened his scenic career and joined Thames T.V. in Teddington. In 1974 he left London and moved to Tolleshunt D’Arcy with his young family. He left Thames T.V. in 1976 but continued to work on a freelance basis for T.V. and film production companies, including London Weekend Television and Shepperton Studios.
Throughout this time he worked on his own paintings and continues to exhibit regularly in solo and mixed shows in London and East Anglia. His most recent one-man show, “THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY” at The Minories in Colchester was in 2012 and a joint exhibition at Hayletts Gallery, Maldon in September 2018. Michael was a prize winner in 2005 for The Sunday Times Watercolour Competition at The Mall Galleries and he won awards in 2016 and 2017 for Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries.
In 1978 he joined Colchester School of Art as a full-time lecturer teaching Drawing & Painting. He retired from full-time teaching on the BA Honours Fine Art Degree Course, eventually leaving in 2006 to concentrate on his own work.
Honorary Member of CAS Colchester Art Society
ONE-MAN EXHIBITIONS
1966 Compendium Gallery, Birmingham
1968 B H Corner Gallery, London
1974 Galeria, Maldon, Essex
1979 Digby Gallery, Colchester, Essex
1980 D’Arcy Gallery, Tolleshunt D’Arcy
1981 Craftsman Gallery, Colchester, Essex
1987 Minories Art Gallery (sponsored by Colchester Art Society)
1995 ‘View from a Bar’, New Grafton Gallery, London
2012 ‘Through a Glass Darkly’ Minories Art Gallery, Colchester
SELECTED JOINT/MIXED EXHIBITIONS
1977 ‘East Anglian Artists’, Gainsborough House, Sudbury
1977 ‘Modern Paintings by English Artists’, Astoria Theatre, London
1980 Studio Milan, Wetzler, Germany
1983 D’Arcy Gallery, Tollehunt D’Arcy, Essex
1984 Chelmsford Cathedral Festival Exhibition
1986 ‘Arthur Young East Anglian Collection’, Cambridge
1986 ‘Contemporary British Watercolours’, Bankside Gallery, London
1986 Chelmsford Cathedral Festival
1987 ‘Modern British Watercolours’, Bankside Gallery, London
1987, 88, 89, 91, 94, 97 ‘Ernst & Young Art Exhibition’, Cambridge
1988 ‘One of Four Artists’, Hayletts Gallery, Colchester
1989 ‘Heffers Summer Exhibition’, Cambridge
1990 Works selected for ‘Critic’s Choice’ (Bill Packer) Quay Gallery, Sudbury, Suffolk
1991 Maldon Millenium Art Exhibition, Maldon
1992 ‘Artists in Essex’. Epping Forrest Museum
1993 ‘Two-Man Show’, Digby Gallery, Colchester
1994 ‘Summer Exhibition’, New Grafton Gallery, London
1994 ‘Christmas Exhibition’, New Grafton Gallery, London
1995 ‘Festival of Illustration’, Buckenham House, Southwold
1996 ‘Artists of Today & Tomorrow’, New Grafton Gallery, London
1997 Singer Friedlander/Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition, Mall Galleries
1997 Prize Winner of ‘Essex Open’, Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend
1997, 98, 00, 01 Sunday Times Watercolour Exhibition, Mall Galleries
1997, 98,99, 2000, 2001 ‘Artists of Today & Tomorrow’, New Grafton Gallery
2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 ‘Discerning Eye’, Mall Galleries. London
2002 ‘Artists of Today & Tomorrow’, New Grafton Gallery, London
2004 ‘One of Two Artists’ Hayletts Gallery, Maldon, Essex
2005 ‘Sunday Times/Singer Friedlander’ Mall Galeries PRIZEWINNER
2006, 2007 ‘Works on Paper’, Richard Hagen Gallery, Broadway, Worcs
2006 ‘Sunday Times/Singer Friedlander’, Mall Galleries
2006 ‘One of Two Artists’, Hayletts Gallery, Maldon
2007 Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, Mall Galleries
2008 ‘50/60’s’ Minories Gallery, Colchester
2009 ‘One of Two Artists’, Hayletts Gallery, Maldon
2010 Sunday Times Watercolour Competition, Mall Galleries
2014 ‘One of Two Artists’ Hayletts Gallery, Maldon
2015 Firstsite, Colchester
2015 ‘Discerning Eye’, Mall Galleries
2016 ‘Discerning Eye’, Mall Galleries PRIZEWINNER
2017 ‘Discerning Eye’, Mall Galleries PRIZEWINNER
2018 ‘One of Two Artists’ Hayletts Gallery, Maldon
2018 ‘Autumn Exhibition’, Geedon Gallery, Fingringhoe, Essex