Sir Matthew Smith studied art in Manchester and then at the Slade School in London before briefly attending Matisse’s school in Paris. He was severely wounded in the First World War, at the battle of Ypres. During the 1920s and early 1930s he divided his time between London and Paris. His first solo show was held in 1926, after which his reputation was assured. In 1933 Smith settled in Aix-en-Provence, where he was there at the outbreak of the Second World War. He lost two sons in action in the RAF and returned to London after the fall of France. He was knighted in 1954, four years before his death. A large bequest of his work was donated to the Barbican Art Gallery in London, which mounted a major retrospective in 1983.
