Background
The son of a photographer, Clifford-Smith was born in Reddish, Stockport, Cheshire and was educated in Manchester and Paris.
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Stanley Clifford-Smith
Edit ProfileCareer
In the 1930s he was involved in the carpet trade working firstly as a salesman and later as a designer for James Templeton & Company in Scotland. lieutenant was at this time that he first began to paint. The couple left London for Suffolk in 1947.
While in East Anglia he painted mainly religious works much influenced by the French expressionist, Georges Rouault.
In 1952 he moved with his family to Great Bardfield in north west Essex, firstly living in Buck"s House, Great Bardfield. During the 1950s the Bardfield artists included: John Aldridge, Edward Bawden, George Chapman, Stanley Clifford-Smith, Audrey Cruddas, Joan Glass, Walter Hoyle, Sheila Robinson, Michael Rothenstein, Marianne Straub, among others
The Great Bardfield ists were diverse in style and rivalled the better known art community at Saint Ives. Clifford-Smith and the other Bardfield artists exhibited in the large "open house" shows in the isolated village in 1954, 1955 and 1958.
These shows attracted thousands of visitors and made the art community famous thanks to national press coverage and several one-off and touring shows in the late 1950s.
Clifford-Smith received many positive press reviews for his work while at Great Bardfield. In 1958 the artist moved to the Old Bakehouse in Great Bardfield. In the early 1960s the Great Bardfield art community fragmented and Clifford-Smith and his family moved to Little Baddow Hall near Chelmsford.
During his time at Little Baddow he painted mainly thickly textured monochrome moon portraits.
Following his death, the artist had several important exhibitions of his work. A retrospective at The Minories, Colchester (November 1969), Little Baddow Hall s Centre (July 1979) and at the Fry Gallery, Saffron Walden (September/October 1998).
His work is included in several prominent collections including: the Benjamin Britten Foundation, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The Beecroft Gallery, Southend, Essex.
And Thaxted Church, Thaxted, Essex.
Membership
During the Second World War, Clifford-Smith was a member of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. In his new home Clifford-Smith was an active member of the Great Bardfield art community during the mid to late 1950s and later became the Honorary Secretary of the group.
