Tony Smith

"From my early childhood days I knew I wanted to be an artist. My brother Gerald and I grew up with the smell of linseed oil and turps, watching our father paint for his living at home in Birmingham. Drawing pictures of everything we were interested in was second nature to us.

After graduating from art school with a distinction, my parents, knowing the fickleness of the fine art world, decided that I should have a proper job. I was therefore sent to work in one of Birmingham’s biggest advertising agencies for five years, after which I completed a year’s national service as an infantryman. Neither was a happy experience for me and my painting remained my first and foremost love.

I became passionate about motor racing in the mid forties at a time when there was no racing, so all my research was developed from books about the pre-war period of motor sport. The only speed I could personally indulge in was cycling and I became a keen racing cyclist. My first major journey took me from Birmingham to Silverstone for the 1948 Grand Prix, which I enjoyed immensely.

My subjects have ranged from portrait painting & drawing planes, Trains and military scenes, but it is the challenge of capturing speed in motor racing that occupies most of my time. I love racing cars, their stylish shape, their engineering excellence, the sound of their engines, but most of all to see them driven hard by skilled drivers against other machines, that really inspires me.

Trying to capture the action, speed and even violence of motor racing is a great challenge – one I’m still working on." Tony Smith

LOOK FOR THE TEDDY BEAR,  Since the sad death of his fellow artist and colleague, Terence Cuneo, Tony Smith has introduced a small "trademark" animal into his own paintings. It is not the famous Cuneo Mouse, but a small and sometimes animated teddy bear, named Bertie.

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