Francis Smith at the MNAC
Between 10 June and 3 October, the National Museum of Contemporary Art – Museu do Chiado (MNAC) is showing an exhibition of the work of painter Francis Smith (1881-1961), the title of which – Francis Smith. In Search of Lost Time – evokes Marcel Proust, who was a friend of the artist. This exhibition is the first in-depth investigation into the work of this modernist artist with English roots, but who was born in Portugal and became a French citizen.
Francisco Smith – later simplified to Francis Smith – was born in Lisbon but moved to Paris in 1907, where he came into contact with various Portuguese artists including Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso. Although he was a permanent resident in the French capital, the painter still devoted many works to his city of birth, becoming well established as an artist in France.
For this exhibition, the CAM loaned 22 of the artist’s works, created between the 1900s and the 1960s, many of which have some connection to Portugal, such as Largo da aldeia [Village square], A Procissão [The Procession], Pescadores [Fishermen], Aldeia Portuguesa [Portuguese village] and Largo do Menino de Deus. There is also a noteworthy charcoal portrait of the painter Manuel Bentes, a friend of Francis Smith, with whom he shared a trip to Holland, along with the artists Emmerico Nunes and Eduardo Viana.
Curated by Jorge Costa, this is the first exhibition resulting from an agreement between the Institute for Art History (IHA) of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, the MNAC (DGPC) and the Millennium bcp Foundation, through which grants are given to researchers to study the work of artists represented in the collections of the latter two institutions.