“Borlase Smart : a sort of artistic admiral who marshaled the columns of waves onto his canvases.” Peter Lanyon

Borlase Smart (1881–1947) grew up in Kingsbridge, South Devon, later living in Plymouth and working as art critic for the Western Morning News. In 1913 he moved to St Ives as a student of Julius Olsson who had established a school of painting there in 1895. Olsson introduced Smart to marine painting and it is for his seascapes that he is today best known.

Smart saw active service on the Western Front serving in the Artists Rifles and recording his experiences in a series of powerful sketches. Here he met Leonard Fuller and the two painters, deeply affected by their experiences of war, determined together to join the art colony of St Ives. It was here Smart put down his roots and concentrated upon his painting, based on sound draughtsmanship and careful observation of the movement of the sea.

In this book the author records the life and work of the artist and the important role he played in supporting and encouraging younger artists in St Ives intent on exploring abstraction in their work, despite facing charges of disloyalty from his fellow Royal Academicians.

These ‘Moderns’, who once outraged the art establishment, but who now are recognised as underpinning the new movement in British art, owe much to Borlase Smart. This, along with his civic work and as a benefactor in helping the people of St Ives, has left a legacy extending far beyond his own paintings, recognised today in the Borlase Smart Trust which maintains and safeguards the historic Porthmeor Studios.

Marion Whybrow writes about painters, potters and sculptors, drawing on the rich culture of St Ives as an art colony. She is married to the artist Terry Whybrow. They moved to St Ives from London in 1980 to pursue their chosen careers in writing and painting. They have two daughters who have joined them in the West Country.

Imprint:Halstar. ISBN 978 1 906690 41 0, hardback, 238x258mm, 144 pages. Published August 2012.