While John Firth-Smith started his career painting Sydney Harbour, his practice soon slipped into abstraction. Finding acclaim as an abstract artist, he still evoked the landscape but did not prescribe it, producing paintings, sculptures and prints that linger in littoral zones – gaps between waves, the reflection of the moon on the water, dusk slipping into night.

In the 1978 original etching on paper, ‘Glory Days’, Firth-Smith plays with this ambiguity. In a washed gold, he arranges lines and shapes, reminiscent of a setting sun or pastoral landscape. Despite being abstract, the work remains emotive – serene, poetic and mysterious, a crest of light open to the viewer’s interpretation.

Firth-Smith is among Australia’s leading abstract artists. He is represented in most public collections and in 1981, completed a major commission of 32 panels for the ANZ Bank in Collins Place, Melbourne. For collectors of abstract and modern art, ‘Glory Days’ is a rare, collectable and elegant find.

John FIRTH-SMITH (1943 - )
'Glory Past' 1978
etching on paper
Image Size: 18 x 50 cm
Dimensions: 40 x 60 cm
Signed: Editioned, titled, signed 'Firth-Smith' and dated in margin.
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Condition: Very Good: Describes a work of art's image as Excellent, but may show some small signs of surrounding wear to paper or frame. There are no tears to paper margin or disruption to the paint surface.

(c) The Artist or Assignee