Saint-Jacques Smith Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1923 - d. 2010

Saint-Jacques Smith

A power of expression that goes to the core excluding details

"Painting has always helped me." When I'm without the sub, she's helping me. Building my house, supporting my wife and my wife's children, is still through her. Painting has a great place in my life. S-J.S. (conversation with his nephews Walder and Julio Smith)


Painter of the second generation of the Saint-Soleil movement, Saint Jacques Smith was born in 1926 in Soissons-la-Montagne. From a family of painters (Denis Smith, Antoine Smith, Jocelyne Smith dit Oceli ...), all practicing artistic rotation since 1973 under the leadership of Jean Claude Honking (Tiga) and Maud Robart.

In 1977, Saint Jacques was among the 33 members of the Saint-Soleil movement invited to participate in the Festival de Théâtre de Nancy by Jacques Lang, French Minister of Culture.

In 1979, Saint Jacques moved to Poland with 12 members of the movement to participate in the International seminar on the meeting between theatre and Voodoo entitled "Theatre of sources" organized by Maud Robart, Tiga and the Polish filmmaker, Jerzy Grotowski. The works of St. James participated in the collective exhibition.

André Malraux's assertion in his posthumous work, the timeless, "naive painter is applied, that of Saint-Soleil is visited" seems to correspond quite to the dimension of the work of St. James Smith.

A painting of Saint James was chosen in 1980 by Éditions Gallimard, folio collection, to illustrate the cover of the famous novel The Kingdom of this world of the Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier. A prototype of this work that embodies the strength of expression and power of suggestion. The expressive power of the work of Saint James excludes the details to focus on the essentials.

In 2007, he made a cardiovascular attack and, almost paralyzed with his left hand, he continued to paint until his death in 2010.